Dielectric properties and thermal induced domain evolution in the piezoelectric single crystal Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3

Electrical properties of Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3–Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (22/42/36) single crystals showed the differences of dielectric, piezoelectric and Curie temperatures in (1 0 0) and (0 0 1) samples. The 180° and 90° domain configurations were found in both orientation samples. The thermal induced domain transitions illustrated that when the phase transformed from tetragonal to cubic, the crystals switched off the polarized light. When the cubic phase returned to the tetragonal, the crystal turned on the polarized light again. The temperature dependent domain evolutions determined the Curie temperatures of both orientation crystals, 222.5 °C and 212.3 °C, respectively, which are accordance with the temperatures 221.4 °C and 211 °C from the dielectric spectroscopy. And it was found that the thermal induced domain evolutions were irreversible.