title: Huge enhancement of electromechanical responses in compositionally modulated Pb(Zr(1-x )Tix)O3.
abstract: Monte Carlo simulations based on a first-principles-derived Hamiltonian are conducted to study the properties of Pb(Zr1-xTix)O3 alloys compositionally modulated along the [100] pseudocubic direction near the morphotropic phase boundary. It is shown that compositional modulation causes the polarization to continuously rotate away from the modulation direction, resulting in the unexpected triclinic and C-type monoclinic ground states and huge enhancement of electromechanical responses (the peak of piezoelectric coefficient is as high as 30,000 pC/N). The orientation dependence of dipole-dipole interaction in modulated structure is revealed as the microscopic mechanism to be responsible for these anomalies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ningdong
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Zhirong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Zhongqing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Wenhui
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Bing-Lin
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Xiao-Wen
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Zhang