Ferroelectric nanodomains in the uniaxial relaxor systemSr0.61−xBa0.39

P. Lehnen¹,

W. Kleemann²,

Th. Woike

³

et al.

Effect of Ni doping on ferroelectric and dielectric properties of strontium barium niobate crystals

“…5. It is interesting to note that the KWW function described the switching kinetics in undoped SBN:61 [26] as well as relaxing domains on the nanoscale, with PFM imaging of the domain configuration in SNB:61 doped with cerium [14]. Figure 6(a-c) presents the dielectric characteristics of the examined crystal samples as a function of temperature at various frequencies.…”

“…However, it is an open question whether the initial domain state is single-domain or contains the nanoscale residual domains, not resolved by NLC method. Nanodomains have been directly observed in Ce-doped SBN:61 using high-resolution PFM techniques [14].…”

“…There are very limited works devoted to study of the influence of doping on ferroelectric properties, especially the polarization switching mechanism. Until recently, high-resolution studies of SBN crystals were limited to piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) techniques, providing the visualization of the domain structure at the nanoscale [14][15][16][17]. In the PFM experiment conditions, the electric field is strongly localized and inhomogeneous.…”

Mapping bias-induced phase stability and random fields in relaxor ferroelectrics

“…Despite recent progress in understanding relaxor behavior, 2,3 a number of aspects remain unresolved, including the polarization switching mechanisms ͑rotation versus wall motion͒ and observations of Barkhausen noise during polarization reversal, among others. 4 The development of piezoresponse force microscopy ͑PFM͒ in the past decade has precipitated several studies of mesoscopic domain polarization distributions in relaxor ferroelectrics, including observations of fractal domain walls in the nonergodic phase of relaxors, [5][6][7] ferroelectric domains in uniaxial relaxors, 8,9 and persistent labyrinthine domains of spontaneous polarization in the macroscopically nonpolar "ergodic" relaxor phase. 6,10,11 Complementary to imaging static domain patterns, piezoresponse force spectroscopy 12 was used to study local polarization dynamics in relaxors.…”

Domain annihilation due to temperature and thickness gradients in single-crystal BaTiO3

“…22 For example, Kalinin and Bonnell found the period of 90 • domains in BaTiO 3 to be invariant right up to the point where domain contrast simply disappeared as a result of heating through the Curie temperature (T C ). 23,24 However, studies have shown domains across second order phase transitions in ferroelectrics 25 and relaxors [26][27][28][29] to be strongly influenced by temperature. Other previous work has researched various aspects of domain behavior as a function of temperature in BaTiO 3 30-32 and PbTiO 3 .…”