Temperature and electric-field induced phase transitions, and full tensor properties of [011]C -poled domain-engineered tetragonal 0.63 Pb(M g1/3 N b2/3)-0.37 PbTi O3 single crystals

The phase-transition sequence of 0.67Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)-0.37PbTiO3 (PMN-0.37PT) single crystals driven by the electric (E) field and temperature is comprehensively studied. Based on the strain-E field loop, polarization-E field loop, and the evolution of domain configurations, the E field along the [011]C induced phase transitions have been confirmed to be as follows: tetragonal (T) → monoclinic (MC)→ single domain orthorhombic (O) phase. As the E field decreases, the induced O phase cannot be maintained and transformed to the MC phase, then to the coexistence state of MC and T phases. In addition, the complete sets of dielectric, piezoelectric, and elastic constants for the [011]C-poled domain-engineered PMN-0.37PT single crystal were measured at room temperature, which show high longitudinal dielectric, piezoelectric, and electromechanical properties (33T=10661,d33=1052pC/N, and k33=0.766). Our results revealed that the MC phase plays an important role in the high electromechanical properties of this domain-engineered single crystal. The temperature dependence of the domain configuration revealed that the volume fraction of the MC phase decreases with temperature accompanied by the reduction of 33T,d31, and k31 due to the substantially smaller intrinsic properties of the T phase.