Diffuse Scattering from PbZr$_{1-x}$Ti$_{x}$O$_{3}$

Alloying the ferroelectric PbTiO$_{3}$ with the anti-ferroelectric PbZrO$_{3}$ produces PbZr$_{1-\textit{x}}$Ti$_{\textit{x}}O_{3}$, a system featuring a morphotropic phase boundary around \textit{x}=0.48. Near this phase boundary, the piezoelectric properties of the system are greatly enhanced. It is thought that this behavior may be related to the addition of some short-range order phenomena arising from competition between the differing long-range orders of the parent systems. To investigate possible short-range ordering, diffuse scattering measurements were performed on a single crystal of PbZr$_{0.54}$Ti$_{0.46}$O$_{3}$ producing large volumes of reciprocal space intensities from both neutron and x-ray diffraction. Our experiments evidence significant short-range correlations that provide an interesting contrast to related relaxor and ferroelectric systems.