Abstract: A polycrystalline shaped article useful as a light-transmitting body or scintillation phosphor is formed from an essentially monocrystalline melt-grown macrocrystal ingot by pressing the ingot between opposed surfaces with no radial restraint, at a temperature below its melting point and under sufficient pressure to transform the ingot, in situ, into a fully dense, homogeneous, polycrystalline mass of unrestricted width.A polycrystalline shaped article useful as a light-transmitting and/or light-generating body may also be formed from a fully dense, homogeneous, optically integral polycrystalline mass by pressing the polycrystalline mass between opposed surfaces with no radial constraint, at a temperature below its melting point, but greater than one-half its melting point measured in degrees centigrade, under sufficient pressure to form a relatively larger polycrystalline mass of lesser height.

Abstract: A device which includes proximately disposed electrodes in side-by-side relationship on a surface of a pyroelectric material which electrodes serve to transmit a signal. The electroded surface preferably contains the c-axis, or is parallel to it, and the performance of the detector is determined, apart from material parameters, by the parallel length of oppositely disposed electrodes and the separation therebetween. Pyroelectric detectors fabricated with essentially single surface coplanar electrodes are more economical and achieve better responsivity than electrodes disposed in opposed planes normal to the c-axis, as in conventional devices. Poling requirements of materials useful in pyroelectric detectors of this invention are similar to the requirements of materials used with conventional c-face (i.e., c-axis normal) electroded devices.