The electric field effects on the elastic properties of uniaxial Ca x Ba1− x Nb2O6 (x = 0.30, CBN30) single crystals were investigated using broadband Brillouin scattering spectroscopy as functions of temperature and electric field. Remarkable thermal hysteresis was observed between zero field heating and zero field cooling processes. A stretching index β = 2.05 indicates the stretched critical slowing down of polar nanoregions (PNRs). The effect of electric field along [001] direction was clearly observed. Under 1.0 kV/cm field, the alignment of nanodomains and enhancement of the long-range ferroelectric order were observed in the ferroelectric phase. In the field dependent measurement, a mixed state consisting of macrodomains induced by the electric field and nanodomains caused by the random fields was observed at 3.0 kV/cm. The mixed state persists up to 13 kV/cm because of the incomplete switching of the nanodomains to the macrodomains state. A very strong memory effect was also observed.

The relaxor ferroelectric (1 − x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–xPbTiO3 (x = 0.30, PMN–30PT) single crystal was studied under the zero field and the externally applied dc electric field by using micro-Brillouin scattering and dielectric spectroscopies over a wide temperature range of 303–773 K. The noticeable thermal hysteresis of longitudinal acoustic (LA) shift (νB) was observed between zero field heating and zero field cooling processes. Under the electric field of 0.5 kV/cm along the [001] axis, the LA mode splitting was observed in νB due to the coexistence of ferroelectric macrodomain and nanodomain states caused by the random field, and in dielectric measurements the monoclinic (M) and tetragonal phases were appeared between rhombohedral and cubic phases. The LA mode splitting and M phase disappeared under the field of 1.0 kV/cm. The electric field dependence of LA velocity was studied at 304 K. The critical end point of the PMN–30PT single crystal was investigated.

The elastic properties of uniaxial relaxor SrxBa1−xNb2O6 (x = 0.70, SBN70) single crystals with strong random fields (RFs) were studied by Brillouin scattering spectroscopy as functions of temperature and external electric field along the [001] direction. A remarkable diffuseness of a ferroelectric phase transition was observed both on zero field heating and zero field cooling. The analysis of elastic anomaly shows the stretched critical slowing down of polar nanoregions (PNRs). Under 3.0 kV/cm, a complete alignment of nanodomains and an enhancement of the long-range ferroelectric order were observed below the Curie temperature TC = 23 °C. The alignment of quasistatic PNRs above TC was also observed under a sufficiently strong electric field. In a field-dependent measurement, a mixed state consisting of field-induced macrodomains and nanodomains caused by RFs was observed at 3.4 kV/cm. This mixed state persisted up to 9.0 kV/cm due to the incomplete switching of nanodomains to the macro/single domain state.

Relaxor ferroelectric 0.83Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.17PbTiO3 (PMN–17PT) single crystals were studied by Brillouin scattering to investigate the role of polar nanoregions (PNRs) with intermediate random fields (RFs). Upon cooling, the central peak began to appear at the Burns temperature (TB) of ∼600 K, indicating the existence of polarization relaxations induced by PNRs. The fitting performed using the equation of stretched slowing down at the inverse relaxation time revealed that the slowing down of PNRs was suppressed in PMN–17PT compared with that in PMN–56PT owing to the increase in the strength of RFs. At room temperature, the splitting of the longitudinal acoustic mode at 1.6 kV/cm was observed owing to the coexistence of the macrodomain formed by the external electric field along the [100] axis and the nanodomains formed by RFs. The appearance of the transverse acoustic mode at 3.2 kV/cm indicates the field-induced rhombohedral-to-tetragonal phase.