Z-Contrast Imaging of Ordered Structures in Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 and Ba(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3

Abstract Lead-based cubic perovskites such as Pb(B2+ 1/3B5+ 2/3)O3 (B2+ = Mg, Co, Ni, Zn; B5+ = Nb, Ta) are relaxor ferroelectrics. Localized order and disorder often occur in materials of this type. In the Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) family, previous studies have proposed two models, space-charge and charge-balance models. In the first model, the ordered regions carry a net negative charge [Pb(Mg1/2Nb,/2)03], while in the second model it does not carry a net charge [Pb((Mg2/3Nb1/3)1/2Nb1/2)03]. However, no direct evidence for these two models has appeared in the literature yet. In this paper we report the first direct observations of local ordering in undoped and La-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)03, using high-resolution Z-contrast imaging. Because the ordered structure in Ba(Mg1/3Nb2/3)03 is well known, the Z-contrast image from an ordered domain is used as a reference for this study. Fig. 1(a) shows the projection of the supercell of fully ordered Ba(Mg1/3Nb2/3)03 along the [110] direction.