Characterization of Mn-modified Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbZrO3-PbTiO3 single crystals for high power broad bandwidth transducers

The effect of MnO2 addition on the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of 0.4Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.25PbZrO(3)-0.35PbTiO(3) single crystals was investigated. Analogous to acceptor doping in hard Pb(Zr, Ti)O-3 based polycrystalline materials, the Mn doped crystals exhibited enhanced mechanical Q (similar to 1050) with low dielectric loss (similar to 0.2%), while maintaining ultrahigh electromechanical coupling k(33) > 90%, inherent in domain engineered single crystals. The effect of acceptor doping was also evident in the build-up of an internal bias (E-i similar to 1.6 kV/cm), shown by a horizontal offset in the polarization-field behavior. Together with the relatively high usage temperature (TR-T similar to 140 degrees C), the Mn doped crystals are promising candidates for high power and broad bandwidth transducers. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.