Via a combination of various experimental and theoretical techniques, a peculiar, identical temperature scale T* is found to exist in all complex lead-based relaxor ferroelectrics. T* corresponds to a nanoscale phase transition due to random fields. Interestingly, T* also exists in other oxides with extraordinary properties, such as giant magnetoresistivity or superconductivity. By analogy with such latter systems, the giant piezoelectricity related to relaxors might originate from proximity competing states effect.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0901.2604,
title = {A new temperature scale T* in lead-based relaxor systems},
author = {B. Dkhil and P. Gemeiner and A. Al-Barakaty and L. Bellaiche and E. Dulkin and E. Mojaev and M. Roth},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0901.2604},
year = {2015}
}