Dependence of coercive field of PIN–PMN–PT single crystal on temperature and frequency

The effective coercive field Eceff of [001]c oriented 0.24Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–0.45Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.31PbTiO3 (PIN–PMN–PT) single crystals has been investigated as a function of temperature T and frequency f. The results show that the Eceff vs f curve exhibits two different regimes separated at about 400 kHz, which may be attributed to the relaxation of non-180° domain switching. It is found that Eceff linearly decreases with T at any given frequency but increases with frequency at a given temperature. These quantitative results demonstrate that the PIN–PMN–PT single crystals have good thermal stability and can be operated at a field level much beyond the conventional coercive field, revealing a great potential for high-frequency ultrasonic transducer applications.