The Structural Phase Transition of the Relaxor Ferroelectric 68%PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-32%PbTiO3

TL;DR

This study uses neutron scattering to investigate the phase transition and dynamic behavior of the relaxor ferroelectric 0.68PMN-0.32PT, revealing coupling of phonon modes, polar nano-regions, and differences from pure PMN.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the structural phase transition and dynamic scattering phenomena in 0.68PMN-0.32PT, comparing it with pure PMN and other compositions.

Findings

Strong phonon mode coupling above 600K

Quasi-elastic scattering linked to polar nano-regions

Elastic scattering peak decreases below ferroelectric transition

Abstract

Neutron scattering techniques have been used to study the relaxor ferroelectric 0.68PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3-0.32PbTiO3 denoted in this paper as 0.68PMN-0.32PT. On cooling, these relaxor ferroelectrics have a long-range ordered ferroelectric phase and the composition is close to that at which the ferroelectric structure changes from rhombohedral to tetragonal. It was found that above the Burns temperature of about 600K, the transverse optic mode and the transverse acoustic mode are strongly coupled and a model was used to describe this coupling that gave similar parameters to those obtained for the coupling in PMN. Below the Burns temperature additional quasi-elastic scattering was found which increased in intensity as the sample was cooled down to the ferroelectric transition temperature but then decreased in intensity. This behaviour is similar to that found in PMN. This scattering is associated with the dynamic polar nano-regions that occur below the Burns temperature. In addition to this scattering a strictly elastic resolution limited peak was observed that was much weaker than the corresponding peak in pure PMN and which decreased in intensity on cooling below the ferroelectric phase whereas for PMN, which does not have a long-range ordered ferroelectric phase, the intensity of this component increased monotonically as the sample was cooled. The results of our study are compared with the recent measurements of Stock et al. [PRB 73 064107] who studied 0.4PMN-0.6PT. The results are qualitatively consistent with the random field model developed to describe the scattering from PMN.