Homogeneization of electromechanical properties of relaxor-based single-crystals

The highest piezoelectric coefficients known to date are obtained in single crystals poled along a non-polar direction, whereby they exhibit a more or less complex ferroelectric domain structure. This discovery had led to the development of "domain engineering", which can be defined as the design of stable domain structures with optimized electromechanical properties. Efficient homogeneization methods are required in order to understand the details of the different contributions to the macroscopic properties. This talk is meant as an overview of this problem, with examples taken from relaxor-based PZN-PT and PMN-PT solid solutions.