TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY OF REPOLING IN STRONTIUM BARIUM NIOBATE NEAR TO THE GLASSY TRANSITION

We report the observation of an enhanced temperature sensitivity for t ransient repoling near to the domain freezing temperature in ferroelec tric strontium barium niobate. This work has important consequences fo r the use of optical fields to control domain patterns in such materia ls. We model the repoling characteristics of the material using a Voge l-Fulcher type response and present results showing the degree of repo ling as a function of field and temperature, for short duration repoli ng times. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.