Phase transition in the Ruddlesden-Popper layered perovskite Li2SrTa2O7

The crystal structure of the Ruddlesden-Popper layered perovskite Li₂SrTa₂O₇ has been characterized at various temperatures between −185 and 300 °C by several techniques: X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, single crystal diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The low temperature structure has been confirmed to be orthorhombic Cmcm with a small octahedra antiphase tilting (ΦΦ0) (ΦΦ0) inside the perovskite blocks. With temperature, the tilting progressively vanishes leading around 230 °C to a tetragonal symmetry (S.G. I4/mmm). This reversible phase transition, followed by X-ray and neutron thermodiffraction and thermal Raman measurements, is considered as of second order. An attribution of the Raman bands based on normal mode analysis is proposed.