No abstract

A variety of three-constituent superlattice patterns were made in atomic layer-by-layer films, with patterns breaking inversion symmetry giving effective permanent bias fields ranging up to about 200 kV/cm. Dielectric constants at room temperature were nearly 10(3), with loss tangents under 0.01. Most of the response came from discrete dipoles comprising multiple unit cells, but without any ferroelectric phase transition.

Dielectric investigations of the (PMN)(1−x)(PT)x crystalline solution have been performed for various electrical histories. For x<0.3, relaxor behavior was observed, however the degree of diffuseness in the dielectric maximum and degree of relaxor characteristics were decreased with increasing x. Application of dc bias for x<0.33 (xc) resulted in an induced transformation to a long-range ferroelectric state. This transition had a critical threshold field (Eth). The value of Eth depended on x. For all x<xc, glasslike behavior was observed in the nonergodic temperature range for E<Eth.

An investigation was carried out on both the linear and nonlinear parts of the complex dielectric susceptibility in the frequency and temperature ranges 10-3-103 Hz and 100-450 K, respectively. The analysis of the imaginary part of the dielectric susceptibility has revealed the existence of a broad spectrum of relaxation times in the above temperature range. The temperature dependence of the most probable frequency of the spectrum was obtained. For temperatures T

Near-room-temperature tunneling magnetoresistance in a trilayer La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 /La 0.85 Sr 0.15 MnO 3 /La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 device

In contrast to ordinary ferroelectrics where the temperature T m of the permittivity maximum monotonically increases with bias field E in ͑1−x͒PbMg 1/3 Nb 2/3 O 3 -͑x͒PbTiO 3 ͑0 ഛ x ഛ 0.35͒ single crystals, T m was found to remain constant or to decrease with E up to a certain threshold field E t , above which T m starts increasing. The threshold field E t decreases with increasing x, tending toward zero at approximately x = 0.4. We explain this dependence in the framework of models which take into account quenched random fields and random bonds. For crystals with 0.06ഛ x ഛ 0.13, the E-T phase diagrams are constructed. In contrast to PMN, they exhibit an additional, nearly field-independent boundary, in the vicinity of the Vogel-Fulcher temperature. We believe this boundary to correspond to an additional phase transition and the appearing order parameter is likely to be nonpolar.

A crossover as a function of temperature is found in the zero-field aging properties of the relaxor ferroelectric Pb(Mg(1/3)Nb(2/3))O3. Below a temperature near which nonlinear susceptibility has indicated a suspected phase transition, the time-frequency dependence shows simple scale-independent behavior resembling that for spin glasses. As in spin glasses, high temperature aging is stable as further aging occurs at lower temperature, but not vice versa, indicating hierarchical state arrangement. A more general interpretation of such effects is briefly discussed.

In three relaxor ferroelectrics strong low-field aging effects are found for the dielectric susceptibility. Different regimes, marked by different time dependence and by different stability under subsequent thermal cycles and field changes, are found in different materials and at different temperatures. One regime strongly resembles aging in spin glasses, but others do not.