Influence of the electric field on the latent heat of the ferroelectric phase transition in KDP

الأصل · EN

The specific heat, heat flux (DTA trace) and dielectric constant of KDP ferroelectric crystal have been measured simultaneously for various electric fields with a conduction calorimeter. The specific heat presents a strong anomaly but these simultaneous measurements allow us to evaluate the latent heat accurately. Latent heat decreases with field and the value of critical electric field --that where latent heat disappears-- is estimated to be (0.44±0.03) kV/cm. Incidentally, we have measured simultaneously the dielectric permittivity which suggests that latent heat is developed as domains are growing.