Macroscopically symmetric domain configurations in ferroic crystals
Abstract
The characteristic feature of ferroic crystals - a polydomain structure - allows one by suitable driving forces to produce domain configurations exhibiting a macroscopic symmetry different from the symmetry of a single domain ferroic phase. Ferroic crystals resulting from such process may involve only some of all possible domain states; they are said to be engineered ones. A particular example represent engineered rhombohedral single crystals of relaxor based ferroelectric Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O_3-PbTiO3 which are reported to have much enhanced piezoelectric and dielectric properties and to be almost fatigue-free. The crystals are supposed to contain only four of eight possible states in which case their macroscopic symmetry could be 4mm. However, the actual domain structure has not been fully analyzed yet. We have worked out an algebraical method how to derive all non-trivial macroscopic symmetries of multidomain crystals. This method enables us to determine external fields, including an electric and magnetic field as well as a mechanical stress field, or their combinations that can induce the corresponding domain configurations. As an illustration, we shall present applications of this method to some multiferroic materials.
- Publication:
-
APS March Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- March 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001APS..MARK40073F