Bipolar loop-like non-volatile strain in the (001)-oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals

TLDR

Strain engineering is widely applied across materials, yet non‑volatile strain—essential for strain‑based information storage—is rarely achieved because converse piezoelectric strain is typically volatile. This study reports a non‑volatile strain in (001)-oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3‑PbTiO3 single crystals and introduces a method to measure it. The authors employ a measurement approach that captures the strain response under electric fields to quantify the non‑volatile behavior. They observe a bipolar loop‑like strain–electric field curve driven by 109° ferroelastic domain switching, demonstrating stable high and low strain states that could benefit information storage.

Abstract

Strain has been widely used to manipulate the properties of various kinds of materials, such as ferroelectrics, semiconductors, superconductors, magnetic materials and "strain engineering" has become a very active field. For strain-based information storage, the non-volatile strain is very useful and highly desired. However, in most cases, the strain induced by converse piezoelectric effect is volatile. In this work, we report a non-volatile strain in the (001)-oriented Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-PbTiO3 single crystals and demonstrate an approach to measure the non-volatile strain. A bipolar loop-like S-E curve is revealed and a mechanism involving 109° ferroelastic domain switching is proposed. The non-volatile high and low strain states should be significant for applications in information storage.