Growth and observation of domain structure of lead magnesium niobate-lead titanate single crystals

(1-x)Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-xPbTiO(3) (PMNT) single crystals were grown by the vertical Bridgman method, and the spatial domain configurations in the rhombohedral and tetragonal crystals were observed using a polarizing microscope, SEM, and SFM in piezo response mode. In the rhombohedral crystals, both regular tire-track patterns and irregular fingerprint patterns were observed on the as-grown crystal plates. The tire-track patterns were composed of {1 0 0} and {1 1 0} domain walls. The irregular fingerprint patterns were antiparallel domains. In the tetragonal crystals, 3 different types of etching areas were observed. These patterns consisted of 180degrees domains and 90degrees {1 1 0} domain boundary. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.