Temperature evolution of the local structure in relaxor ferroelectric Ba(Ti0.7Zr0.3)O3 studied using neutron total scattering analysis

We performed neutron total scattering measurements on relaxor ferroelectric Ba(Ti0.3Zr0.3)O-3 from T = 350 to 50 K. Using reverse Monte Carlo modeling on the total scattering data in k-space as well as in real space, we show that the off-centering of Ti ion is the source of local polarization at all temperatures. In addition, we estimated that Ti displacement is toward the < 111 > direction with a magnitude of about similar to 0.11 angstrom. We also present an evolution of Ti-O bond length distribution across the maximum permittivity temperature, which suggests a freezing of local polarization with decreasing temperature. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.