Lithium tantalate

Lithium tantalate is the inorganic compound with the formula LiTaO3. It is a white, diamagnetic, water-insoluble solid. The compound has the perovskite structure. It has optical, piezoelectric, and pyroelectric properties. Considerable information is available from commercial sources about this material.

Synthesis and processing
Lithium tantalate is produced by treating tantalum(V) oxide with lithium oxide. The use of excess alkali gives water-soluble polyoxotantalates. Single crystals of Lithium tantalate are pulled from the melt using the Czochralski method.

Applications
Lithium tantalate is used for nonlinear optics, passive infrared sensors such as motion detectors, terahertz generation and detection, surface acoustic wave applications, cell phones. Lithium tantalate is a standard detector element in infrared spectrophotometers.

Research
The phenomenon of pyroelectric fusion has been demonstrated using a lithium tantalate crystal producing a large enough charge to generate and accelerate a beam of deuterium nuclei into a deuterated target resulting in the production of a small flux of helium-3 and neutrons through nuclear fusion without extreme heat or pressure.

A difference between positively and negatively charged parts of pyroelectric LiTaO3 crystals was observed when water freezes to them.