A phenomenological thermodynamic theory of BaxSr(1-x)TiO3 (BST-x) thin films epitaxially grown on cubic substrates is developed using the Landau-Devonshire approach. The eighth-order thermodynamic potential for BT single crystal and modified fourth-o
rder potential for ST single crystal were used as starting potentials for the end-members of the solid solution with the aim to develop potential of BST-$x$ solid solution valid at high temperatures. Several coefficients of these potentials for BT were changed to obtain reasonable agreement between theory and experimental phase diagram for BST-x (x > 0.2) solid solutions. For low Ba content we constructed the specific phase diagram where five phases converge at the multiphase point (T_N2 = 47 K, x = 0.028) and all transitions are of the second order. The concentration-misfit strain phase diagrams for BST-x thin films at room temperature and temperature-misfit strain phase diagrams for particular concentrations are constructed and discussed. Near T_N2 coupling between polarization and structural order parameter in the epitaxial film is modified considerably and large number of new phases not present in the bulk materials appear on the phase diagram.
We present here temperature-dependent Raman, x-ray diffraction and specific heat studies between room temperature and 12 K on single crystals of spin-ice pyrochlore compound $Dy_2Ti_2O_7$ and its non-magnetic analogue $Lu_2Ti_2O_7$. Raman data show a
new band not predicted by factor group analysis of Raman-active modes for the pyrochlore structure in $Dy_2Ti_2O_7$, appearing below a temperature of $T_c=$110 K with a concomitant contraction of the cubic unit cell volume as determined from the powder x-ray diffraction analysis. Low temperature Raman experiments on O$^{18}$-isotope substituted $Dy_2Ti_2O_7$ confirm the phonon origin of the new mode. These findings, absent in $Lu_2Ti_2O_7$, suggest that the room temperature cubic lattice of the pyrochlore $Dy_2Ti_2O_7$ undergoes a subtle structural transformation near $T_c$. We find anomalous textit{red-shift} of some of the phonon modes in both the $Dy_2Ti_2O_7$ and the $Lu_2Ti_2O_7$ as the temperature decreases, which is attributed to strong phonon-phonon anharmonic interactions.
