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Electric field effect on short-range polar order in a relaxor ferroelectric system

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

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

Abstract

Short-range polar order in the relaxor ferroelectric material PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-28%PbTiO3 (PMN-28PT) have been studied using neutron diffuse scattering. An external electric field along the [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 enhanced. On the other hand, short-range polar order 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 parts of short-range polar order 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. © 2019 American Physical Society.
Original languageEnglish
Article number024113
Number of pages5
JournalPhysical Review B
Volume100
Issue number2
Online published30 Jul 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2019
Externally publishedYes

Funding

F.L. acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51572214) and the Key Science and Technology project of Shaanxi Province (2018KJXX-081). S.Z. acknowledges the support of ONRG under Grant No. N62909-18-12168. C.S. acknowledges the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Royal Society.

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