Effect of hydrostatic pressure on the kinetics of the ordering of ferroelectrics upon second-order phase transitions

Abstract

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the kinetics of the formation of electrical domains in ferroelectric materials that undergo second-order phase transitions has been considered. It has been shown using the example of triglycine sulfate ferroelectric crystals undergoing an order-disorder phase transition that the applied pressure increases the ordering temperature and thus accelerates the ordering process. It has been found that, by increasing the hydrostatic pressure applied to the sample after quenching, it is possible to obtain a single-domain state, instead of the multi-domain type of ordering. The evolution curves for the average value of the order parameter and its dispersion have been obtained by numerical integration. These curves indicate that quasi-stationary multi-domain structures of the asymmetric type can be formed at specially selected pressures. It has been established that the kinetics of the formation of electrical domains in ferroelectrics depends significantly on the initial relaxation conditions, which are determined by the technological prehistory of the quenching.