A comparative EPR study with various paramagnetic probes of iron-group elements has been carried out on the ferroelectric phase transition in tris-sarcosine calcium chloride (TSCC) crystals. These ions have yielded complementary results, and one probe was found to be insufficient to obtain necessary information about the transition mechanism. While the soft-mode vector is inferred from the VO++ spectra, either Cr+++ or Fe+++ ions are best suited to observe the critical phenomena near the transition temperature (Tc ~ 130 K). A critical broadening above Tc and an asymmetrical splitting below Tc are observed in the Cr+++ and Fe+++ spectra. The Mn++ spectra are unique in that the order–parameter fluctuation appears only slightly in the line widths above Tc, while the critical region below Tc is characterized by the coexistence of para- and ferroelectric phases. The critical slowing-down effect in the EPR line widths is found to be consistent with that observed in dielectric measurements, suggesting that sarcosine dipoles in TSCC crystals are associated with the elementary dipole for spontaneous polarization.
