Time-resolved studies of electromechanically induced fatigue in single-crystal piezoelectrics

We propose to probe a time-resolved structural response in single-crystal Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) piezoelectrics to high-frequency electric fields. The electric field induces a hierarchy of distortions, such as ion displacements and displacement atomically bound electrons motion of domain walls, and changes in the macroscopic domain patterns. Their dynamical contributions define the actual frequency-dependent piezoelectric response; the experimental information on the underlaying processes is mostly limited to macroscopic properties. EBS and new fast detectors of hard X-ray radiation open new possibilities that might help to recover missing micro-structural information which we intend to document with time-resolved XRD for frequencies in the range 1-1000 Hz.