Abstract
Optical or electron microscopes have been usualy used to observe ferroelectric domains. But they have some difficulties in applying an external electric field or in changing the temperature of a sample. A CCD microscope has been developed for the domain observation by combining a low magnification object-lens and a high resolution CCD sensor. The CCD microscope revealed more than ×1000 magnification on a CRT display with a very bright view. Moreover, it is easy to apply an electric field on the sample because of a sufficient distance between the object-lens and the sample. The image of the domain motion is instantaneously recorded with a VTR. Single crystals of the (1-x)Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 system prepared by the flux method were used. This solid solution system exhibits a morphotropic phase boundary between rhombohedral and tetragonal phase near x=0.1. The phase transition behavior from ferroelectric to paraelectric phase becomes sharp with increasing PbTiO3 concentration (x) in comparison with a diffused phase transition in Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3. Our observation demonstrated that the ferroelectric domain motion is closely correlated with the phase transition diffuseness and dielectric relaxation.
