Neutron Diffuse Scattering from Polar Nanoregions in the Relaxor Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3

TL;DR

This study investigates neutron diffuse scattering in relaxor PMN, revealing that polar nanoregions contribute to scattering and proposing a model combining soft mode condensation with uniform PNR displacement to explain observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel model combining soft mode displacement and uniform PNR shift to accurately describe diffuse scattering in PMN.

Findings

Diffuse scattering appears around 620K, linked to polar nanoregions.

The proposed model explains diffuse scattering intensities considering both soft mode and PNR shift.

Atomic displacements do not fulfill the center of mass condition when considering soft mode alone.

Abstract

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: $\delta_{CM}$ is created by the soft mode condensation, satisfying the center of mass condition, and, $\delta_{shift}$ 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.