DILUTE FERROELECTRIC IN RANDOM ELECTRIC-FIELD - PHASE-TRANSITIONS IN PB(MG1/3NB2/3)(1-X)TIXO3 CRYSTALS

Phase transitions have been studied in single crystals of the ferroelectric solid solutions Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)(1-x)TixO3 (PMN-PT) at 0 < x less than or equal to 0.2. An analysis of the low-frequency (10(-1)-10(-2) Hz) hysteresis loops, the temperature dependence of the residual piezoelectric coefficient g(11) = d(11)/chi(11) and the dielectric susceptibility chi(11) of polarized crystals established that PMN-PT becomes ferroelectric at low temperatures after going from a paraelectric Griffiths's phase through a nonpolar dipole glass phase with inhomogeneous long-range order and a partly polarized mixed phase. It has been shown that the unusual dielectric properties of PMN-PT in its low-temperature phases results from the appearance of a number of metastable states.