Investigation of the Effect of the Annealing Process on the Domain Structure of 0.65Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.35 PbTiO3 Single Crystal Using Scanning Electron Acoustic Microscopy

Scanning electron acoustic microscopy has been used to reveal the ferroelectric and ferroelastic domain structures in a 0.65 Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–0.35 PbTiO3 single crystal without any sample pretreatment. The investigation revealed the presence of the ferroelectric tetragonal 90° domain structure in the original material. The formation of twofold symmetrical butterfly-shaped ferroelastic domains was observed after the sample had been annealed at 300°C for 3 h and then slowly cooled. The origin of the butterfly-shaped domains is discussed.