Kinetics of 90° domain wall motions and high frequency mesoscopic dielectric response in strained ferroelectrics: A phase-field simulation

Abstract

The dielectric and ferroelectric behaviors of a ferroelectric are substantially determined by its domain structure and domain wall dynamics at mesoscopic level. A relationship between the domain walls and high frequency mesoscopic dielectric response is highly appreciated for high frequency applications of ferroelectrics. In this work we investigate the low electric field driven motion of 90°-domain walls and the frequency-domain spectrum of dielectric permittivity in normally strained ferroelectric lattice using the phase-field simulations. It is revealed that, the high-frequency dielectric permittivity is spatially inhomogeneous and reaches the highest value on the 90°-domain walls. A tensile strain favors the parallel domains but suppresses the kinetics of the 90° domain wall motion driven by electric field, while the compressive strain results in the opposite behaviors. The physics underlying the wall motions and thus the dielectric response is associated with the long-range elastic energy. The major contribution to the dielectric response is from the polarization fluctuations on the 90°-domain walls, which are more mobile than those inside the domains. The relevance of the simulated results wth recent experiments is discussed.