Electro-optic effects in thin-film lanthanum-doped lead zirconate titanate

We report the deposition and characterization of highly oriented thin-film lanthanum-doped lead zirconate titanate (28/0/100) on fused-silica substrates by rf planar magnetron sputtering. The quadratic electro-optic effect gives a birefringence of Deltan ~ 0.018 at an applied field of 39 kV/mm. Optical modulation at a switching speed of 3 nsec (instrumentation limited) is achieved. Results of optically induced decay of the birefringence in these films are also reported.