X-ray and neutron diffraction investigations of the structural phase transformation sequence under electric field in 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)-0.3PbTiO(3) crystal

The structural phase transformations of 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.3PbTiO(3) (PMN-30%PT) have been studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and neutron scattering as a function of temperature and electric field. We observe the phase transformational sequence (i) cubic (C)--> tetragonal (T)--> rhombohedral (R) in the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) condition; (ii) C-->T--> monoclinic (M-C)--> monoclinic (M-A) in the field-cooled (FC) condition; and (iii) R-->M-A-->M-C-->T with increasing field at fixed temperature beginning from the ZFC condition. Upon removal of the field, the M-A phase is stable at room temperature in the FC condition, and also in the ZFC condition with increasing field. Several subtleties of our findings are discussed based on results from thermal expansion and dielectric measurements, including (i) the stability of the M-A phase, (ii) a difference in lattice parameters between inside bulk and outside layer regions, and (iii) a difference in the phase transition temperature between XRD and dielectric data. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.