Analysis of dipole behavior in PMN–PT single crystal from modeling of dielectric spectrum

Some diverse characters between relaxor ferroelectric ceramics and their single crystals remain unknown. Based on dual polarization model used in ceramics, we modeled and analyzed dielectric spectrum of PMN–PT single crystals above characteristic temperature Tm. An indistinct characteristic temperature T2 was made clear. The results of simulation for single crystals fitted with experiments. It is shown that high temperature model in the dual polarization model is also valid for single crystals, and a characteristic temperature T2 may signify the onset of dipolar regions freezing. The relaxor materials experience different polarization processes in different temperature ranges divided by T2. The reasons resulted in the discrepancy between ceramics and single crystals were analyzed. We believe that the divergence between ceramics and single crystals is induced by the difference of polar region concentration, electric interaction and inner elastic stress among polar regions.