Barkhausen Noise Probe of the Ferroelectric Transition in the Relaxor PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-12% PbTiO3

TL;DR

This study uses Barkhausen noise to investigate the transition from a glassy relaxor ferroelectric state to an ordered ferroelectric state in a specific material, revealing complex domain formation and electric dipole interactions.

Contribution

It introduces Barkhausen noise as a probe for the ferroelectric transition in relaxor materials, highlighting non-conventional nucleation and the role of dipole interactions.

Findings

Presence of micron-scale Barkhausen events before polarization acceleration

Reverse switching events indicate electric dipole interactions are crucial

Transition involves initial mixed-domain formation followed by domain growth

Abstract

Barkhausen current noise is used to probe the slow field-driven conversion of the glassy relaxor ferroelectric state to an ordered ferroelectric (FE) state. The frequent presence of distinct micron-scale Barkhausen events well before the polarization current starts to speed up shows that the process is not a conventional nucleation-limited one. The prevalence of reverse switching events near the onset of the rapid part of the transition strongly indicates that electric dipole interactions play a key role. The combination of Barkhausen noise changes and changes in the complex dielectric response indicate that the process consists of an initial mixed-alignment domain formation stage followed by growth of the domains aligned with the applied field.