Study of electric-field-induced phase transitions in [111] oriented 0.955Pb(Zn1 / 3Nb2 / 3)O3–0.045PbTiO3 single crystals

We report the presence of a field-induced intermediate ferroelectric phase in pre-poled [111] oriented 0.955Pb(Zn1 / 3Nb2 / 3)O3–0.045PbTiO3 (PZN–4.5%PT) single crystals, based on the dielectric, differential scanning calorimetry and pyroelectric measurements. It was found that this phase exists in a very narrow interval of 4.3 °C between the ferroelectric rhombohedral and tetragonal phases. This may be explained as an electric-field-induced orthorhombic phase based on previous investigations on the PZN–8%PT single crystals. An electric-field-induced phase diagram of <111> oriented PZN–PT has been redrawn based on this study.