Improved pyroelectric properties and domain structures via poling and depoling effects in Mn-doped PIN–PMN–PT single crystals

The poling and depoling effects were investigated on the pyroelectric performance and the domain structures of Mn-doped PIN–PMN–PT (the abbreviation of the 0.15Pb(In 1/2 Nb 1/2 )–0.55Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –0.30PbTiO 3 crystals doped with 1% manganese, nominal composition) single crystals to optimize the poling process. With the poling field up to 3E c , the crystals can reach the best pyroelectric properties and the characteristic parameters are optimized as p = 9.39 × 10 –4 Cm −2 K −1 and F d = 25.7 × 10 –5 Pa −1/2 . The single domain state cannot be achieved with further increasing the electric field due to the pinned effect induced by the ( Mn 2 + ) Ti ″ - V O · · dipoles and the internal stress field. Due to the enhanced thermal stability, the crystals increase the working temperature compared to the undoped PMN-PT crystals, reaching 100 °C, that is suitable for applications as the infrared devices. When the temperature is above 100 °C, the pyroelectric performance will deteriorate seriously due to the successive phase transitions from the rhombohedral ferroelectric phase to the tetragonal ferroelectric phase at T R–T , and to the cubic paraelectric phase at T C / T m .