NONLINEAR ELECTROSTRICTIVE PROPERTIES OF PbZrO3:Sn SINGLE CRYSTALS WITH ANTIFERROELECTRIC PHASE TRANSITIONS

Abstract

The electrostrictive properties above Tε max represented by the field-related and polarization-related M and Q coefficients have been measured for PbZr 1 - x Sn x O 3 single crystals with aniferroelectric phase transitions. The investigations presented in this paper have proved that the M11(T) and Q11(T) runs bring direct information of the pre-transitional effects connected with the co-existence of local polar objects with nonpolar matrix. Due to this co-existence, nonlinear Q11(T) dependence in the neighborhood of T C has been detected. Observed even in a wide temperature above T C , this co-existence is a natural feature of the material with ABO3 perovskite structure that undergoes structural transition to polar phase.