513.001 Molecular and Solid State Physics

Pyroelectricity

Pyroelectricity describes how the electric polarization changes as the temperature changes. The pyroelectric coefficients form a rank 1 tensor π_i.

dP_i/dT = π_i

The generating matrix of the point group m is,

.

(a) Give the independent tensor elements for this point group.

(b) How could the pyroelectric coefficient be calculated from the microscopic quantum states of the crystal?