Dynamic behaviors of ferroelectric domain structures in Eu-doped PMN-PT transparent ceramics studied by piezoresponse force microscopy

In this paper, we study ferroelectric domain structures, optical properties, as well as domain dynamic performances induced by external in-plane electric field of Eu-doped lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate [Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 (PMN-PT)] transparent ceramics mainly via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). It is found that Eu doping play a significant role on the domain structures and domain switching behavior in PMN-PT transparent ferroelectrics. For some compositions the switching of domain structures exhibit a normal evolutionary trend, while for the compositions with low Eu doping content, unusual anisotropic polarization switching behaviors were obtained in macrodomain regions under in-plane bias in the Eu-doped PMN-PT transparent ceramics.