The anomalies of polarization (mismatch of hysteresis loops for several fir
st repolarization cycles, the absence of specific coercive field, etc.) in
quasi-static and dc electric fields have been found in the strontium barium
niobate relaxor ferroelectric. The anomalies are associated with a highly
inhomogeneous structure of the crystal, which is considered a clearly defin
ed nonergodic system with a random distribution of strong local internal fi
elds. The energy distributions of potential barriers for the polarization a
nd the depolarization are obtained at different electric field strengths an
d temperatures. (C) 2000 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".