Growth and characterization of relaxor ferroelectric (1-x)Pb(Sc/sub 1/2/Nb/sub 1/2/)O/sub 3/ - xPbTiO/sub 3/ single crystals

Growth and characterization of the single crystals of complex perovskite (1-x)Pb(Sc/sub 1/2/Nb/sub 1/2/)O/sub 3/-xPbTiO/sub 3/ [PSNT] with composition near the MPB (x=0.425) are reported in this paper. The PSNT crystals were grown by high temperature solution method using the (PbO + /spl delta/B/sub 2/O/sub 3/) system as flux. By analyzing the defects and morphology of the as-grown crystals, we have optimized the growth parameters and the flux system, leading to a significant improvement in the quality of crystal grown. Domain observation by polarized light microscopy reveals that the structure of the PSNT57.5/42.5 crystal has very complex symmetry at room temperature. The PSNT crystals have been characterized by means of the X-ray, dielectric and ferroelectric measurements.