High-pressure Raman investigation of the Pb-free relaxor BaTi0.65Zr0.35O3 -: art. no. 092104

We report high-pressure Raman measurements (up to 27 GPa) on the perovskite-type relaxor ferroelectric BaTi0.65Zr0.35O3(BTZ(35)). Distinct changes of the Raman spectra with increasing pressure illustrate that BTZ(35) presents important pressure instabilities leading to at least two phase transitions around 5.7 GPa and 15.1 GPa, respectively. The observed pressure-induced spectral changes for BTZ(35) are reminiscent of features that have been observed for pure BaTiO3, thus for a classic ferroelectric. The latter is surprising since earlier reports indicate a relaxor-characteristic Raman signature as a function of temperature, thus illustrating that BTZ(35) might well occupy a peculiar niche in perovskite-type ferroelectrics.