In situobservation of reversible domain switching in aged Mn-dopedsingle crystals
- 18 May 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 71 (17), 174108
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.71.174108
Abstract
Very recently, a giant recoverable electrostrain effect has been found in aged Fe-doped single crystals; this effect is based on a defect-mediated reversible domain-switching mechanism. However, the reversible domain-switching process itself is yet to be directly verified. In the present study, we performed in situ domain observation during electric field cycling for an aged Mn-doped single crystal and simultaneously measured its polarization –field hysteresis loop. In addition, the electrostrain behavior of the sample was also characterized. Such experimentation made it possible to correlate the mesoscopic domain-switching behavior with the macroscopic properties. It was found that the aged sample shows a remarkable reversible domain switching during electric field cycling; it corresponds very well to a “double” hysteresis loop and a giant recoverable electrostrain effect (with a maximum strain of 0.4%). This provides direct mesoscopic evidence for our reversible domain-switching mechanism. By contrast, an unaged sample shows irreversible domain-switching behavior during electric field cycling; it corresponds to a normal hysteresis loop and a butterfly-type irrecoverable electrostrain behavior. This indicates that the reversible domain switching in the aged sample is related to point-defect migration during aging. We further found that the large recoverable strain is available over a wide frequency range. This is important for the application of this electrostrain effect.
Keywords
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