X-ray and neutron scattering

Abstract:

PbZr(1-x)Ti(x)O3 (PZT) is one of the most important and widely used piezoelectric materials. The study of its local and average structures is of fundamental importance in understanding the origin of its high-performance piezoelectricity. Pair distribution function analysis and Rietveld refinement have been carried out to study both the short- and long-range order in the Zr-rich rhombohedral region of the PZT phase diagram. The nature of the monoclinic phase across the Zr-rich and morphotropic phase boundary area of PZT is clarified. Evidence is found that long-range average rhombohedral and both long- and short-range monoclinic regions coexist at all compositions. In addition, a boundary between a monoclinic (M(A)) structure and another monoclinic (M(B)) structure has been found. The general advantage of a particular monoclinic distortion (M(A)) for high piezoactivity is discussed from a spatial structural model of susceptibility to stress and electric field, which is applicable across the wide field of perovskite materials science.

Abstract:

We present a study of the magnetic and crystallographic structure of TbMnO3 in the presence of crossed electric and magnetic fields using circularly polarized x-ray nonresonant scattering. A comprehensive account is presented of the scattering theory and data analysis methods used in our earlier studies, and in addition we present interesting high magnetic field data and its analysis. We discuss in detail how polarization analysis was used to reveal structural information, including the arrangement of Tb moments which we proposed for H=0 T, and how the diffraction data for HHC as for H

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