Intrinsic stress-induced adaptive ferroelectric domain rearrangement in the monoclinic Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 single crystal

Response of sub-microdomains in an adaptive ferroelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–34%PbTiO3 single crystal to the temperature-induced stress field was investigated by scanning electron acoustic microscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy. Formation of different types of domain configurations (wave-like, “W”-like and lattice-like) closely related to nanodomain cooperative response after the sample subjected to frozen treatment was presented. In the adaptive ferroelectric state lattice-like domain structures demonstrated more stable behavior compared to other types of domains (wave-like and “W”-like) due to their minimum domain wall energy density, and provided a type of effective structure to remove domain topological change under the stress field.