5,227 research outputs found
Two-step phase changes in cubic relaxor ferroelectrics
The field-driven conversion between the zero-field-cooled frozen relaxor
state and a ferroelectric state of several cubic relaxors is found to occur in
at least two distinct steps, after a period of creep, as a function of time.
The relaxation of this state back to a relaxor state under warming in zero
field also occurs via two or more sharp steps, in contrast to a one-step
relaxation of the ferroelectric state formed by field-cooling. An intermediate
state can be trapped by interrupting the polarization. Giant pyroelectric noise
appears in some of the non-equilibrium regimes. It is suggested that two
coupled types of order, one ferroelectric and the other glassy, may be required
to account for these data.Comment: 27 pages with 8 figures to appear in Phys. Rev.
Aging in the Relaxor Ferroelectric PMN/PT
The relaxor ferroelectric
(PbMnNbO)(PbTiO), ,
(PMN/PT(90/10)) is found to exhibit several regimes of complicated aging
behavior. Just below the susceptibility peak there is a regime exhibiting
rejuvenation but little memory. At lower temperature, there is a regime with
mainly cumulative aging, expected for simple domain-growth. At still lower
temperature, there is a regime with both rejuvenation and memory, reminiscent
of spin glasses. PMN/PT (88/12) is also found to exhibit some of these aging
regimes. This qualitative aging behavior is reminiscent of that seen in
reentrant ferromagnets, which exhibit a crossover from a domain-growth
ferromagnetic regime into a reentrant spin glass regime at lower temperatures.
These striking parallels suggest a picture of competition in PMN/PT (90/10)
between ferroelectric correlations formed in the domain-growth regime with
glassy correlations formed in the spin glass regime. PMN/PT (90/10) is also
found to exhibit frequency-aging time scaling of the time-dependent part of the
out-of-phase susceptibility for temperatures 260 K and below. The stability of
aging effects to thermal cycles and field perturbations is also reported.Comment: 8 pages RevTeX4, 11 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.
Barkhausen Noise in a Relaxor Ferroelectric
Barkhausen noise, including both periodic and aperiodic components, is found
in and near the relaxor regime of a familiar relaxor ferroelectric,
PbMgNbO, driven by a periodic electric field. The
temperature dependences of both the amplitude and spectral form show that the
size of the coherent dipole moment changes shrink as the relaxor regime is
entered, contrary to expectations based on some simple models.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX4, 5 figures; submitted to Phys Rev Let
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