Phonon Raman scattering of RCrO3 perovskites (R = Y, La, Pr, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho, Yb, Lu)

We report a systematic investigation of orthorhombic perovskite-type RCrO3 powder samples by Raman scattering for nine different rare earth R3+ cations (R = Y, La, Pr, Sm, Gd, Dy, Ho, Yb, Lu). The room-temperature Raman spectra and the associated phonon mode assignment provide reference data for structural investigation of the whole series of RCrO3 orthochromites and phonon ab-initio calculations. The assignment of the chromite spectra and comparison with Raman data on other orthorhombic perovskites allows correlating the phonon modes with the structural distortions in the RCrO3 series. In particular, two Ag modes are identified as octahedra rotation soft modes as their positions scale linearly with the octahedra tilt angle of the CrO6 octahedra.