Anomalous dielectric after-effect in ferroelectric KH2PO4

Abstract

Dielectric permittivity of KH2PO4 single crystals and pressed powders was measured in the presence of dc electric bias fields. Usually if the bias was switched at time t = 0, real and imaginary permittivity jumped to new values then decreased as logt . This well-known 'glassy' effect is attributed to switchable microdomains that are present accidentally in single crystals but are systematically more numerous in powders. A very different after-effect was observed in a narrow T range around 7-8 K. Real permittivity jumped to a lower value then increased with t as a stretched exponential with a T-dependent time constant. This lay near the Arrhenius law of a known, but unassigned dispersion. Such a dispersion is a typical effect of a point defect at low concentration in a crystal, and is here attributed to the elementary movement of a domain wall, consisting of a single H-bond reversal. The anomalous after-effect results from the interaction between these point defects and the microdomain system. Several other H-bond ferroelectrics exhibited similar effects. They offer an opportunity to study 'glassy' and 'crystalline' slow dynamic effects that coexist and interact.