Structural changes of relaxor ferroelectric SrBaNbO (SBN52) on quenching and reheating.

Quenching of SrBaNbO (SBN52) from temperatures above 700°C causes small modifications in the strontium distribution over the large cation sites (Me1 and Me2), changed off-centre shifts of the Nb atoms and slightly increased modulation amplitudes. The higher disorder of cation incorporation can explain the enhanced ferroelectric properties. The quenched structural disorder can be healed by reheating followed by slow cooling. A change of the modulation dimension on quenching such as for CaBaNbO (CBN) mixed crystals was not observed.