TY - JOUR
T1 - Surface domain structures and mesoscopic phase transition in relaxor ferroelectrics
AU - Kholkin, Andrei
AU - Morozovska, Anna
AU - Kiselev, Dmitry
AU - Bdikin, Igor
AU - Rodriguez, Brian
AU - Wu, Pingping
AU - Bokov, Alexei
AU - Ye, Zuo Guang
AU - Dkhil, Brahim
AU - Chen, Long Qing
AU - Kosec, Marija
AU - Kalinin, Sergei V.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2011/6/7
Y1 - 2011/6/7
N2 - Relaxor ferroelectrics are a prototypical example of ferroic systems in which interplay between atomic disorder and order parameters gives rise to emergence of unusual properties, including non-exponential relaxations, memory effects, polarization rotations, and broad spectrum of bias- and temperature-induced phase transitions. Despite more than 40 years of extensive research following the original discovery of ferroelectric relaxors by the Smolensky group, the most basic aspect of these materials - the existence and nature of order parameter - has not been understood thoroughly. Using extensive imaging and spectroscopic studies by variable-temperature and time resolved piezoresponse force microscopy, we find that the observed mesoscopic behavior is consistent with the presence of two effective order parameters describing dynamic and static parts of polarization, respectively. The static component gives rise to rich spatially ordered systems on the ∼100 nm length scales, and are only weakly responsive to electric field. The surface of relaxors undergoes a mesoscopic symmetry breaking leading to the freezing of polarization fluctuations and shift of corresponding transition temperature. Relaxor ferroelectrics are known as an enigma of solid-state physics. Using extensive imaging and spectroscopic studies by variable-temperature and depth-resolved piezoresponse force microscopy, we propose a model explaining their behaviour by introducing two order parameters describing dynamic and static polarization. The surface of relaxors undergoes a symmetry breaking leading to the freezing of polarization fluctuations and shift of transition temperature.
AB - Relaxor ferroelectrics are a prototypical example of ferroic systems in which interplay between atomic disorder and order parameters gives rise to emergence of unusual properties, including non-exponential relaxations, memory effects, polarization rotations, and broad spectrum of bias- and temperature-induced phase transitions. Despite more than 40 years of extensive research following the original discovery of ferroelectric relaxors by the Smolensky group, the most basic aspect of these materials - the existence and nature of order parameter - has not been understood thoroughly. Using extensive imaging and spectroscopic studies by variable-temperature and time resolved piezoresponse force microscopy, we find that the observed mesoscopic behavior is consistent with the presence of two effective order parameters describing dynamic and static parts of polarization, respectively. The static component gives rise to rich spatially ordered systems on the ∼100 nm length scales, and are only weakly responsive to electric field. The surface of relaxors undergoes a mesoscopic symmetry breaking leading to the freezing of polarization fluctuations and shift of corresponding transition temperature. Relaxor ferroelectrics are known as an enigma of solid-state physics. Using extensive imaging and spectroscopic studies by variable-temperature and depth-resolved piezoresponse force microscopy, we propose a model explaining their behaviour by introducing two order parameters describing dynamic and static polarization. The surface of relaxors undergoes a symmetry breaking leading to the freezing of polarization fluctuations and shift of transition temperature.
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U2 - 10.1002/adfm.201002582
DO - 10.1002/adfm.201002582
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79957966432
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 21
SP - 1977
EP - 1987
JO - Advanced Functional Materials
JF - Advanced Functional Materials
IS - 11
ER -