286 research outputs found
Soft Mode Anomalies in the Perovskite Relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3
Neutron inelastic scattering measurements of the polar TO phonon mode in the
cubic relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3, at room temperature, reveal anomalous behavior
similar to that recently observed in the Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)_{0.92}Ti_{0.08}O3
system in which the optic branch appears to drop precipitously into the
acoustic branch at a finite value of the momentum transfer q = 0.20
1/Angstroms, measured from the zone center. By contrast, a recent neutron study
showed that PMN exhibits a normal TO phonon dispersion at 800 K. We speculate
this behavior is common to all relaxor materials and is the result of the
presence of nanometer-scale polarized domains in the crystal that form below a
temperature Td, which effectively prevent the propagation of long wavelength (q
= 0) phonons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures To appear as an AIP Conference Proceedings Volume
for the Aspen 2000 Winter Conference on the Fundamental Physics of
Ferroelectric
Neutron Diffuse Scattering from Polar Nanoregions in the Relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3
We have studied the neutron diffuse scattering in the relaxor PMN. The
diffuse scattering appears around the Burns temperature (~620K), indicating its
origin from the polar nanoregions (PNR). While the relative diffuse intensities
are consistent with previous reports, they are entirely different from those of
the lowest-energy TO phonon. Because of that, it has been considered that this
TO mode could not be the ferroelectric soft mode. Recently, a neutron
scattering study has unambiguously shown that the TO mode does soften on
cooling. If the diffuse scattering in PMN originates from the soft mode
condensation, then the atomic displacements must satisfy the center of mass
condition. But, the atomic displacements determined from diffuse scattering
intensities do not fulfill this condition. To resolve this contradiction, we
propose a simple model in which the total atomic displacement consists of two
components: is created by the soft mode condensation, satisfying
the center of mass condition, and, represents a uniform
displacement of the PNR along their polar direction relative to the surrounding
(unpolarized) cubic matrix. Within this framework, we can successfully describe
the neutron diffuse scattering intensities observed in PMN.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures (Revised: 11-16-2001
Interplay between static and dynamic polar correlations in relaxor Pb(Mg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})O_{3}
We have characterized the dynamics of the polar nanoregions in
Pb(MgNb)O (PMN) through high-resolution neutron
backscattering and spin-echo measurements of the diffuse scattering cross
section. We find that the diffuse scattering intensity consists of \emph{both}
static and dynamic components. The static component first appears at the Curie
temperature K, while the dynamic component freezes completely
at the temperature T K; together, these components account for
all of the observed spectral weight contributing to the diffuse scattering
cross section. The integrated intensity of the dynamic component peaks near the
temperature at which the frequency-dependent dielectric constant reaches a
maximum (T) when measured at 1 GHz, i. e. on a timescale of
ns. Our neutron scattering results can thus be directly related to dielectric
and infra-red measurements of the polar nanoregions. Finally, the global
temperature dependence of the diffuse scattering can be understood in terms of
just two temperature scales, which is consistent with random field models.Comment: (8 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B
Direct evidence of soft mode behavior near the Burns' temperature in PbMgNbO (PMN) relaxor ferroectric
Inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the relaxor ferroelectric
PbMgNbO (PMN) in the temperature range
490~KT880~K directly observe the soft mode (SM) associated with the
Curie-Weiss behavior of the dielectric constant (T). The results
are treated within the framework of the coupled SM and transverse optic (TO1)
mode and the temperature dependence of the SM frequency at q=0.075 a* is
determined. The parameters of the SM are consistent with the earlier estimates
and the frequency exhibits a minimum near the Burns temperature (
650K)Comment: 6 figure
Coexistence and competition of local- and long-range polar orders in a ferroelectric relaxor
We have performed a series of neutron diffuse scattering measurements on a
single crystal of the solid solution Pb(ZnNb)O (PZN) doped
with 8% PbTiO (PT), a relaxor compound with a Curie temperature T K, in an effort to study the change in local polar orders from the polar
nanoregions (PNR) when the material enters the ferroelectric phase. The diffuse
scattering intensity increases monotonically upon cooling in zero field, while
the rate of increase varies dramatically around different Bragg peaks. These
results can be explained by assuming that corresponding changes occur in the
ratio of the optic and acoustic components of the atomic displacements within
the PNR. Cooling in the presence of a modest electric field oriented
along the [111] direction alters the shape of diffuse scattering in reciprocal
space, but does not eliminate the scattering as would be expected in the case
of a classic ferroelectric material. This suggests that a field-induced
redistribution of the PNR has taken place
Soft Mode Dynamics Above and Below the Burns Temperature in the Relaxor Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O_3
We report neutron inelastic scattering measurements of the lowest-energy
transverse optic (TO) phonon branch in the relaxor Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O_3 from 400
to 1100 K. Far above the Burns temperature T_d ~ 620 K we observe well-defined
propagating TO modes at all wave vectors q, and a zone center TO mode that
softens in a manner consistent with that of a ferroelectric soft mode. Below
T_d the zone center TO mode is overdamped. This damping extends up to, but not
above, the waterfall wave vector q_wf, which is a measure of the average size
of the PNR.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; modified discussion of Fig. 3, shortened
captions, added reference, corrected typos, accepted by Phys. Rev. Let
Neutron scattering study of PbMgTaO and BaMgTaO complex perovskites
Neutron scattering investigations were carried out in
PbMgTaO and BaMgTaO complex
perovskites. The crystal structure of both compounds does not show any phase
transition in the temperature range 1.5 -- 730 K. Whereas the temperature
dependence of the lattice parameter of BaMgTaO follows the
classical expectations, the lattice parameter of relaxor ferroelectric
PbMgTaO exhibits anomalies. One of these anomalies is
observed in the same temperature range as the peak in the dielectric
susceptibility. We find that in PbMgTaO, lead ions are
displaced from the ideal positions in the perovskite structure at all
temperatures. Consequently short-range order is present. This induces strong
diffuse scattering with an anisotropic shape in wavevector space. The
temperature dependences of the diffuse neutron scattering intensity and of the
amplitude of the lead displacements are similar
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