A review on perovskite lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO3), its properties and applications

An introduction to perovskites along with their structure and properties are discussed. Lanthanum Aluminate (LaAlO3) compound, its phase transition from cubic to rhombohedral, chemical bonding, the electronic structure and the optical properties are argued in this review. The generalized gradient approximation by using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave is discussed. Other analysis methods are also discussed. The analysis of the bond population and the electronic density profile gives the nature of both ionic and covalent bonds. Moreover, dielectric function which is calculated is in full agreement with the experimental data. The spectrum of electron energy-loss, refractive index, conductivity, absorption spectrum and the reflectivity are easily obtained from a calculated dielectric function. The 6.1 eV optical band gap is exhibited by the absorption spectrum which agrees with some other experimental calculations. Importance of a perovskite type compounds cannot be denied. Different applications are also described in this paper.