Phonon behavior of CaSnO 3 perovskite under pressure

Abstract

Raman scattering and x-ray diffraction studies of CaSnO 3 perovskite were performed under high-pressure conditions. This high-pressure study was motivated by a recent theoretical study predicting a phase transition in CaSnO 3 from GdFeO 3-type perovskite to CaIrO 3-type structure occurred at 12 GPa. Despite no obvious structure change up to a pressure of 26 GPa based on the x-ray diffraction data, high pressure Raman measurements revealed that some Raman modes disappeared upon compression; either merging into neighboring bands or vanishing. The signals for these Raman peaks were recovered during decompression. The measured pressure derivative of Raman shift (δv/δP) of CaSnO 3 ranged from ∼1.29 to ∼4.35, up to 20 GPa. Due to the lack of lattice dynamic study for CaSnO 3 perovskite, the mode symmetry for CaSnO 3 was tentatively assigned based on the empirical relation among Ca-bearing perovskites. The pressure derivative of the Raman shifts was found to be related to their mode vibrations: modes related to Ca and O shifts had a strong pressure dependence compared with those associated with oxygen octahedral rotation. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.