Pyroelectric electron emissions and domain inversion of LiNbO₃ single crystals

We investigated the electron emissions from a congruent LiNbO₃ single crystal with variation in temperature. When there was a small gap between the crystal and detector (<2 mm), we observed abrupt drops in the emission current and polarization domain inversion of the crystal. The current burst was distributed in tree-like patterns that suggested plasma generation. A sufficient gap and a crystal with a high coercive field appear to be factors that allow reproducible electron emissions from pyroelectric materials.