The fluctuations of electric polarization in a disordered ferroelectric substance, relaxor crystal PbMg_{1/3}Nb_{2/3}O_{3} (PMN), were studied using a nonlinear inelastic light-scattering technique, hyper-Raman scattering, within a 5-100  cm^{-1} spectral interval and in a broad temperature range from 20 to 900 K. The split ferroelectric mode reveals a local anisotropy of up to about 400 K. Spectral anomalies observed at higher temperatures are explained as due to avoided crossing of the single primary polar soft mode with a temperature-independent, nonpolar spectral feature near 45  cm^{-1}, known from Raman scattering. The temperature changes of the vibrational modes involved in the measured fluctuation spectra of PMN were captured in a simple model that accounts for the temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity as well. The observed slowing down of the relaxational dynamics directly correlates with the huge increase of the dielectric permittivity.

International audienceA new ground state of textbook compound strontium titanate (SrTiO 3) is obtained by inducing a specific core-shell structure of the particles. Using a combination of high energy synchrotron and neutron diffraction, we demonstrate a lowering of the ferroelastic ground state towards a new antiferrodistortive phase, accompanied with strong shifts of the critical temperature. This new phase is discussed within the Landau theory and compared with the situation in thin films and during pressure experiments. The crucial competition between particle shape anisotropy, surface tension, and shear strain is analyzed. Inducing a specific core-shell structure is therefore an easy way to tailor structural properties and to stabilize new phases that cannot exist in bulk material, just like film deposition on a substrate