Search

PbZr1-xTixO3, which has abundant structural variations in the corresponding physical properties, has been used in a large variety of applications. To understand the effect of the structure on its high-performance piezoelectric properties, its local and average structures are studied. Total scattering data have been obtained from high-energy synchrotron powder diffraction experiments at 20 K and 300 K. Using the reverse Monte Carlo method, information on cation displacements has been extracted from X-ray Pair Distribution Function data. This suggests that the local disorder of the B cations is mainly driven by thermal motion, while the local disorder of Pb is most likely caused by more complex factors, such as displacive disorder. Both rhombohedral and monoclinic local polarizations are observed in Zr-rich PZT, whose directions depend on temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anisotropy of the optical second harmonic generation (SHG) in a multiferroic BiFeO3 single crystal is observed by an SHG microscope. Polarization dependences of SH intensities are measured in several polarization configurations of the incident and SH waves to determine the magnitude and sign of polar i-type SHG tensor components. To obtain proper values of these SHG tensors, the effects of the interference term and wave number mismatch are taken into account in these analyses. d24 component is 15 times larger than d32 and this result is essentially different from the thin film case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second harmonic generation interference tomography which enables us to obtain three-dimensional images of ferroelectric antiparallel domain structures is devised. Periodically poled domains (PPDs) inside a LiTaO3 quasiphase matching crystal (QPM) are observed by this microscope. Section images perpendicular to the polar z axis show that the PPD structure is maintained throughout the top quarter of the sample but it starts to lose the periodic nature in the bottom half of the sample. Corresponding degradation of the QPM performance is observed along the z direction of the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PbZr1-xTixO3, which has abundant structural variations in the corresponding physical properties, has been used in a large variety of applications. To understand the effect of the structure on its high-performance piezoelectric properties, its local and average structures are studied. Total scattering data have been obtained from high-energy synchrotron powder diffraction experiments at 20 K and 300 K. Using the reverse Monte Carlo method, information on cation displacements has been extracted from X-ray Pair Distribution Function data. This suggests that the local disorder of the B cations is mainly driven by thermal motion, while the local disorder of Pb is most likely caused by more complex factors, such as displacive disorder. Both rhombohedral and monoclinic local polarizations are observed in Zr-rich PZT, whose directions depend on temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]