Processes of the relaxation of regular microdomain structures recorded in ferroelectric strontium-barium niobate crystals in the field of an atomic force microscope

The kinetics of the relaxation of regular one- (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) microdomain structures created in a relaxor strontium-barium niobate ferroelectric by applying dc voltages to the probe of an atomic force microscope has been investigated. The dependence of the relaxation time of the domain structures on their topology has been revealed. Under identical recording conditions, the relaxation times of the 2D structures (domain squares) are several orders of magnitude larger than the relaxation times of the 1D structures (domain lines or chains), which are in turn several orders of magnitude more stable than individual (spatially separated) domains. The dependence of the stability of the recorded domain ensembles on the discreteness (distance between the recorded point domains) has been analyzed. The effects are discussed taking into account the specificity of the polarization processes in the relaxor ferroelectric.