Temperature and composition dependence of vibrational modes in Sm1?xLaxAlO3

At room temperature and for x₀ ～ 0.43, the system Sm_1?xLa_xAlO₃ undergoes a first order phase transition in which an orthorhombic structure transforms into a rhomboedral structure as x increases. This phase transition was investigated by Raman scattering experiments on polycrystalline compounds in the range 0 ? x ? 1. The dependence of low frequency modes on x is reported and compared with their well known temperature dependence. Soft modes have been observed in the orthorhombic (D_2h¹⁶) and rhomboedral (D_3d⁶) phases. It was found that the first order phase transition is probably driven by a double degenerate mode whose two components in the low symmetry phase display a linear composition dependence of their squared frequencies. The source of anomalous behaviour of Raman bands near the phase transition is discussed.