Crystallography under External Electric Field

Abstract

Structural response of crystals to an applied external perturbation is important as a key for understanding microscopic origin of physical properties. Experimental investigation of structural response is a great challenge for modern structure analysis. We demonstrate how advanced X-ray diffraction techniques facilitate probing tiny (10 -4 Å) distortions of bond lengths under a permanent electric field. We also discuss details of the experimental procedure essential for reaching such precision. We ask whether the experiment can be used to evaluate * Dr. S. Gorfman

Electric-field-induced local and mesoscale structural changes in polycrystalline dielectrics and ferroelectrics

“…A formalism for analysis of diffraction data collected on electrically biased single crystals has been developed previously1 and used to determine field-induced changes of bond lengths in several piezoelectrics, including α-GaPO 4 2, LiNbO 3 3 and LiSO 4 ·H 2 O2. However, for many useful systems, large single crystals are unavailable and applications rely on more easily produced polycrystalline materials.…”

New method to measure domain-wall motion contribution to piezoelectricity: the case of PbZr0.65Ti0.35O3 ferroelectric

“…Piezoelectricity may be caused by 'intrinsic' phenomena, which are described in crystallographic terms such as atomic displacements, lattice parameters, and the type of space group and symmetry group (Gorfman et al, 2006(Gorfman et al, , 2013. However, the most important functional piezoelectrics are also ferroelectrics, and these classes of materials may exhibit phenomena on much longer length scales (e.g.…”

Piezoelectric response and electrical properties of Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 thin films: The role of imprint and composition

“…Alternatively, in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction combined with the application of an electric field during measurements has been used in recent years to provide useful and precise information beyond the usual applications for structural studies. [14][15][16][17] A good review on the time-resolved X-ray diffraction methods can be found in Ref. 18.…”