Slow dynamics and ergodicity breaking in a lanthanum-modified lead zirconate titanate relaxor system

Abstract

The freezing of the dynamic process in a 9/65/35 lanthanum lead zirconate-titanate (PLZT) ceramics has been investigated by measurements of the frequency-dependent complex dielectric constant and the quasistatic field-cooled (FC) and zero-field-cooled (ZFC) dielectric susceptibilities. It was found that the aging process is responsible for the difference in temperature variations of the FC static dielectric constant and the static dielectric constant determined in the dynamic ZFC experiment. Analysis of the complex dielectric susceptibility by a temperature-frequency plot has revealed that for an aged PLZT sample the ergodicity is broken due to the divergence of the longest relaxation time in the vicinity of 249 K, i.e., the temperature where the ferroelectric phase can also be induced by applying sufficiently high electric field. However, the bulk of the distribution of relaxation times was found to remain finite even below the freezing temperature. It is shown that the behavior of the relaxation spectrum and the splitting between the field-cooled and zero-field-cooled dielectric constants in PLZT relaxor is qualitatively similar to what was observed in the lead magnesium niobate (PMN) relaxor and is reminiscent of the nonergodic behavior reported in various spin glasses. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the third order nonlinear susceptibility indicates a glassy rather than ferroelectric multidomain nature of the nonergodic relaxor state in both PMN and PLZT systems.