Growth and properties of Pr-doped PMNT single crystals

Abstract

Pr-doped 0.70Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–0.30PbTiO₃ (PMNT:Pr) single crystals are grown with the seed-guided Bridgman method. The PMNT:Pr crystal remains a pure perovskite structure with Pr³⁺ ion doping. The maximum d₃₃ of the morphotropic phase boundary is 2636 pC N⁻¹ at 10 Hz, 20 cycles and 14 kV cm⁻¹. The dielectric constant is higher than 4300 at room temperature and 0.1 kHz. The coercivity field E_c and remaining polarization P_r decrease with increasing temperature at 10 kV cm⁻¹ and 10 Hz, respectively. The ferroelectric domains become periodically dense and regular, and the domain size is uniform under the AC polarization. In the wavelength range of 200–2000 nm, the transmittance of the crystal under the non-polar mode, DC-polar mode and AC-polar mode is 29–37%, 33–51% and 53–61%, respectively. The crystal excitation at 451 nm yielded the strongest red light emission at 651 nm, and the luminescence intensity decreased with increasing temperature. PMNT:Pr single crystals have been proved to be rare-earth doped ferroelectric single crystal materials with high piezoelectric properties.