Role of random electric fields in relaxors

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Abstract
Significance: Relaxors are characterized by a frequency-dependent peak in the dielectric permittivity and are critical to modern technological applications because they exhibit large dielectric constants and unparalleled piezoelectric coefficients. Despite decades of study a fundamental understanding of the origin of relaxor behavior is lacking. Here we compare the structural, dynamical, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties of two highly similar piezoelectric lead-oxide materials: ferroelectric PbZr 1– x Ti x O 3 and relaxor Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 ) 1– x Ti x O 3 . Random electric fields are implicated as the genesis of relaxor behavior, and the diffuse scattering associated with short-range polar order is identified as the order parameter. The piezoelectric response is found to be greatly amplified in crystals that display this diffuse scattering.
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