• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.59-62
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• 2020

Currently, increasing attention is being paid to relaxor-based ferroelectric single crystals in photoacoustic images, especially for high-end applications. Among the crystals are (1-x)Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-xPbTiO₃ (PMN-100xPT) single crystals located near their morphotropic phase boundary (x = 0.30-0.35) because of their ultrahigh piezoelectric and electromechanical coupling properties. The alternating current poling (ACP) treatment, rather than the conventional direct current poling treatment, has recently been spotlighted due to its effectiveness in enhancing the piezoelectric properties. So far, it has been suggested that the enhanced piezoelectricity originates from either a domain miniaturization to nanodomains or from an electric-field-induced monoclinic symmetry. In this study, we demonstrate by thermally stimulated depolarization current measurements that the effect of ACP is too complex to be explained using a single mechanism and that the proposed electric-field-induced monoclinic symmetry is unlikely to exist.