Growth and properties of single crystals of relaxor PZN–PT materials obtained from high-temperature solution

Large, high-quality single crystals of (1−x)Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)–xPbTiO3 [PZN–PT] relaxors (with the composition range from ∼6 to ∼10%mol. PT) have been grown with a high degree of reproducibility by the gradient cooling method in a specially designed furnace from high-temperature solution. The crystal size is limited by the crucible diameter only. A preliminary series of more than 50 crystal growth experiments using the “standard” flux method allowed optimizing of the staring composition and temperature program. The segregation coefficient for Ti cations has been established on the basis of chemical analysis of the crystal composition and it was found that is strongly dependent on the Ti content in the melt. Samples cut from these crystals, after poling, have shown the expected high d33 values.