Stress and electric field induced phase transformation phenomena in [0 1 1]-poled PZN-PT single crystals of [1 0 0]-length cut

For rhombohedral PZN-(4.5-7)%PT single crystals of 100^L(A) × 01̄1^W× 011^T(P) cut, A and P denoting Active and Poled direction respectively, the applied axial compressive stress in the [1 0 0]-length direction and electric field in the [0 1 1] poling direction aid one another to bring about the rhombohedral-to-orthorhombic (R-O) phase transformation in the crystal. On stress and/or field removal, PZN-(4.5-6)%PT single crystals revert back to the rhombohedral state and the original good properties are retained but not for PZN-7%PT single crystal which remains in the overpoled orthorhombic state with degraded properties. The stress and electric field for the R-O phase transformation, i.e. the E_RO- σ_RO curves, for PZN-4.5%PT, PZN-5.5%PT and PZN-6%PT of said crystal cut are provided which are useful for device design purposes.