ABSTRACT
Domain boundaries in ferroic materials are found to have various physical properties not observed in the surrounding domains. Such differences can be enhanced and bring promising functionalities when centrosymmetric nonpolar materials encounter polar domain boundaries. In this work, a tunable polar domain boundary is discovered in an antiferroelectric single crystal. Under a small stress or electric field, the density, volume, and polarity of the boundaries are successfully controlled.
ABSTRACT
The relationship between crystal structure and physical properties in the ferroelectric Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) has been of interest for the last two decades. Originally, the average structure was held to be of rhombohedral (R3c) symmetry with a fixed polarization direction. This has undergone a series of revisions, however, based on high-resolution X-ray diffraction, total neutron scattering, and optical and electron microscopy. The recent experimental findings suggest that the true average symmetry is monoclinic (space group Cc), which allows for a rotatable spontaneous polarization. Neither polarization rotation nor its potentially important real role in enhanced piezoelectricity is well understood. The present work describes an in situ investigation of the average monoclinic distortion in NBT by time-resolved single-crystal X-ray diffraction under external electric fields. The study presents a high-resolution inspection of the characteristic diffraction features of the monoclinic distortion - splitting of specific Bragg reflections - and their changes under a cyclic electric field. The results favour a model in which there is direct coupling between the shear monoclinic strain and the polarization rotation. This suggests that the angle of polarization rotation under a sub-coercive electric field could be 30° or more.
ABSTRACT
The anomalous birefringence and circular differential reflection of NH(4)H(2)PO(4) (point group Ì 42m), cut on the optic axis, have been found to cause an additional signal in measurements of the optical rotation employing polarized light technology, with the sample between crossed and slightly modulated linear polarizers (tilting high accuracy universal polarimetry). The azimuthal rotation of the linearly polarized light, up to 100 times larger than expected, is described in terms of a circularly polarized light mode along the optic axis of varying amplitude. Experimental evidence leading to our conclusion is given and a qualitative model for the effect is presented.
