Janolin P-E, Bouvier P, Kreisel J, Thomas P A, Kornev I A, Bellaiche L, Crichton W, Hanfland M, Dkhil B
Laboratoire Structures, Propriétés et Modélisation des Solides, CNRS-Ecole Centrale Paris, 92295 Châtenay-Malabry Cedex, France.
Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Dec 5;101(23):237601. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.237601. Epub 2008 Dec 2.
We report a room-temperature high-pressure x-ray and Raman scattering investigation of lead titanate (PbTiO3) up to 63 GPa. Three continuous phase transitions at 13, 20, and 45 GPa between tetragonal-like phases occur. As a result, no evidence is found for a pressure-induced morphotropic phase boundary. Our study provides experimental evidence that PbTiO3 presents a complex sequence of phases accommodating pressure through mechanisms involving oxygen octahedra tilting and reentrance of ferroelectricity.