Two-step phase changes in cubic relaxor ferroelectrics
Abstract
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.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0508479,
title = {Two-step phase changes in cubic relaxor ferroelectrics},
author = {Eugene V. Colla and M. B. Weissman},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0508479},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
27 pages with 8 figures to appear in Phys. Rev. B