Electro-optic measurements of the ferroelectric-paraelectric boundary in Ba1-xSrxTiO3 materials chips

The combinatorial material chip strategy is used to study the ferroelectric-paraelectric phase boundary of the Ba1-xSrxTiO3 thin film system. The electro-optic (EO) effect at different compositions is measured using a modified direct-current/alternating-current birefringence EO measurement technique. We find that Ba1-xSrxTiO3 thin films exhibit relaxor like behavior with diffused ferroelectric domains existing well past the previously defined ferroelectric-paraelectric boundary (x > 0.3). (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(00)01006-8].