Electric Field Effect on Short-Range Polar Order in a Relaxor Ferroelectric System

Published

July 30, 2019

Author(s)

Zhijun Xu, Fei Li, Shujun Zhang, Christopher Stock, Jun Luo, Peter M. Gehring, Guangyong Xu

Abstract

Short-range polar orders in the relaxor ferroelectric material PbMg_1/2Nb_2/3O₃-28%PbTiO₃ (PMN-28PT) have been studied using neutron diffuse scattering. An external electric field along [110] direction can affect the diffuse scattering in the low temperature rhombohedral/monoclinic phase. Diffuse scattering intensities associated with [110] short-range polarizations are partially suppressed, while those arising from [110] polarizations are enchanced. on the other hand, short-range polar orders along other equivalent 110} directions, i.e. [101],[101],[011], and [011] directions, are virtually unaffected by the field. Our results, combined with previous work, strongly suggest that most part of short-range polar orders in PMN-xPT relaxor systems are robust in the low temperature phase, where they couple strongly to ferroelectric polarizations of the surrounding ferroelectric domains, and would only respond to an external field indirectly through ferroelectric domain rotation.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

100

Issue

2

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

relaxor ferroelectric, diffuse scattering, short-range order, electric field

Citation

Xu, Z. , Li, F. , Zhang, S. , Stock, C. , Luo, J. , Gehring, P. and Xu, G. (2019), Electric Field Effect on Short-Range Polar Order in a Relaxor Ferroelectric System, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=928276 (Accessed October 1, 2025)