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Results of measurements in situ of electrostrictive strain, dielectric polarization, dielectric constant, and crystallographic parameters as functions of applied electric field in the temperature range 20–200 °C of Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.66Ti0.11Sn0.23)O3 composition are reported. The antiferroelectric to ferroelectric phase transition with large volume change ΔV=0.35 Å3 is shown to be the dominant mechanism of the field-induced strain. The microscopic nature of the switching mechanism and the variation of the strain versus polarization squared at various temperatures are discussed.

Significant enhancement of energy-storage performance of (Pb0.91La0.09)(Zr0.65Ti0.35)O3 relaxor ferroelectric thin films by Mn doping Large enhancement of energy-storage properties of compositional graded (Pb1−xLax)(Zr0.65Ti0.35)O3 relaxor ferroelectric thick films Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 113902 (2013); 10.1063/1.4821209 Field-induced dielectric properties of laser ablated antiferroelectric ( Pb 0.99 Nb 0.02 )(Zr 0.57 Sn 0.38 Ti 0.05 ) 0.98 O 3 thin films

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Local piezoresponse of individual grains in polycrystalline Pb0.9125La0.0975(Zr0.65Ti0.35)0.976O3 (PLZT 9.75/65/35) relaxor ceramics is studied using the scanning probe microscopy (SPM) technique. The observed piezoelectric contrast consisting of irregular (labyrinth-type) polarization patterns is attributed to the compositional disorder and consequent charge imbalance caused by high La concentration. A measure of this disorder, the polarization correlation length ξ, is directly determined using an autocorrelation analysis function implemented in the SPM software. The analysis of the obtained images shows that ξ taken at the scale ∼200 nm varies as a function of the position inside the grain notably decreasing upon approaching the grain boundary. As a result, the average correlation length taken over the entire grain is apparently dependent on the grain size saturating at about 2 µm. The obtained dependences are consistent with both the mechanical stress effect of impinging grains and the composition gradient in the PLZT grain and allows for better understanding of the dielectric properties of disordered ferroelectrics.