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A ferroelectric hysteresis depends on the orientation of the applied field with respect to the spontaneous polarization. The ferroelectric switching occurs through correlated domain movements forming avalanches. We tested whether avalanches in single crystals of the prototypic ferroelectric BaTiO3 and the relaxor ferroelectric 0.7Pb(Mg2/3Nb1/3)O3–0.3PbTiO3 show anisotropic field dependences. The anisotropy of the energy exponent of avalanches is very small in BaTiO3 with exponents between 1.53 and 1.6, which is remarkably close to the prediction of mean field theory 5/3. The anisotropy is much stronger in 0.7Pb(Mg2/3Nb1/3)O3–0.3PbTiO3 with one exponent slightly above the typical range of mean field values (4/3–5/3): 1.43 ± 0.02, 1.64 ± 0.03, and 1.79 ± 0.03 for fields along [100], [110], and [111], respectively. This anisotropy indicates a variation of the fractal dimensions of the transient domain patterns depending on the direction of the switching field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motion of phase fronts during a ferroelectric phase transition is intermittent and follows avalanche dynamics. In the present study, we show that an intermittent propagation mode generates spikes of depolarization currents at an extremely slow heating rate of 0.05 K/min in BaTiO3 (BTO) and 0.7Pb(Mg2∕3Nb1∕3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) single crystals. Such "jerks" are indicative of avalanche dynamics, and their energy exhibits a power law distribution with exponents of ε = 1.3 ± 0.10 and ε = 1.5 ± 0.10 for BTO and PMN-PT, respectively. The rate of aftershocks after big events decays as an Omori-like power-law and interevent times are characterized by a universal double power-law distribution, indicating the critical temporal correlations between the avalanche events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]