Structure and Dynamics of Ferroelectric and Relaxor Materials Studied with Neutron Scattering
NIST Center for Neutron Research
NIST only participates in the February and August reviews.
Advanced neutron scattering methods are being used to measure the structure and lattice dynamics of a wide variety of ferroelectric and relaxor ferroelectric materials. Current interest focuses on the lead-free perovskites NBT, KLT, and KTN in addition to the lead-based perovskites PZT, PMN-xPT, and PZN-xPT, which exhibit exceptional piezoelectric properties. The nature of the static diffuse scattering arising from short-range polar correlations in relaxor systems is a topic of special interest. The effect of an applied electric field on the structural phase transitions and the diffuse scattering is also being studied to clarify the as-yet unknown polar nanostructure in these materials.