Evolution of nanodomains in the uniaxial relaxor Sr0.61Ba0.39Nb2O6:Ce

The evolution of the nanodomain pattern of the uniaxial relaxor ferroelectric strontium barium niobate doped with cerium was studied by piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM). The fractal-like nanodomains observed at room temperature decay on heating. At temperatures up to about 15 K above the Curie temperature, T-c = 320 K, areas of correlated polarization are still visible. On cooling from the paraelectric state to below T-c, a slow isothermal growth of nanodomain was found. The mean domain size increases according to a logarithmic law as predicted for the three-dimensional random field Ising model.