ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Structural phase transitions in ferroelectric layered perovskite oxides

Abstract: Recent theoretical work has identified that oxygen octahedral rotations (OORs) in layered perovskites such as Ruddlesden–Popper (RP) phases A2[A’n-1BnO3n+1] can generate noncentrosymmetry (piezoelectricity or ferroelectricity) by a “hybrid-improper” mechanism. Our group has reported OOR-induced noncentrosymmetry in n = 1 RP NaRTiO4 (R=rare earth) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 187602 (2014)]. We now extend our understanding of OORs to an n = 2 RP compound, Sr3Zr2O7. Although Sr3Zr2O7 was previously reported to be centrosymmetric (space group Pmmm), we have observed second harmonic generation at 300 K, indicating the noncentrosymmetric nature. We here propose variable-temperature neutron powder diffraction experiments on HRPD to resolve subtle changes in the crystal symmetry resulting from OORs and thus to identify unambiguously the thermally-induced phase transition sequence.

Principal Investigator: Professor Koji Fujita
Experimenter: Mr Suguru Yoshida
Experimenter: Dr Oliver Hernandez
Local Contact: Dr Alexandra Gibbs

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1620102

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1620102

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Koji Fujita et al; (2016): Structural phase transitions in ferroelectric layered perovskite oxides, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1620102

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.