First-principles study of structural and vibrational properties of SrZrO3

Using first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic, structural, and vibrational properties of SrZrO3. We start from the high-symmetry cubic perovskite phase, for which the phonon dispersion curves are reported.We point out the coexistence of structural antiferrodistortive instabilities at the R and M zone-boundary points and a ferroelectric instability at the zone center.We showthat the strong antiferrodistortive motions suppress ferroelectricity and are responsible for the orthorhombic ground state as in CaTiO3. The structural properties
<br />of possible intermediate phases and of the orthorhombic Pnma ground state are reported. For the latter, an assignment of IR and Raman zone-center phonon modes is proposed. The main features of the ferroelectric instability are also discussed, and we show that a ferroelectric ground state can even be induced in SrZrO3 by strain engineering.