SOUND-ATTENUATION IN DOPED DISPLACIVE FERROELECTRICS

An expression is obtained for the sound attenuation constant in a doped displacive ferroelectrics in the presence of an external electric field, using double-time temperature-dependent Green's function technique. The mass and force constant changes due to impurity atoms, are taken into account along with higher order anharmonic and electric dipole moment terms, in the Silverman-Joseph Hamiltonian. The attenuation constant increases with an external electric field. The soft mode is responsible for the anomalously increasing behaviour of the attenuation constant in the vicinity of the Curie temperature. The results agree with those attained by Tani and Tsuda and Heuter and Neuhaus. © 1978 Indian Academy of Sciences.