Domain structures and dielectric properties resulting from tweed precursors of relaxor ferroelectric solid-solution single-crystal 24Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-46Pb (Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-30PbTio3

The domain structures of poled and depoled lead-based relaxor ferroelectric solid-solution single-crystal 24Pb(In
_1/2
Nb
_1/2
)O
₃
-46Pb (Mg
_1/3
Nb
_2/3
)O
₃
-30PbTio
₃
are studied by polarized light microscopy, piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and dielectric spectroscopy. The domain structures in the nonergodic relaxor state are found by PFM to consist of tweed structures resulting from random fields from the competition between ferroelectric and antiferroelectric distortion, and planar defects found by SEM are treated as dislocations associated with strain accommodation, resulting in superior piezoelectric properties. This domain structure is found to be connected with hierarchical domain structures.