GdAlO3 perovskite.

Flux-grown gadolinium aluminate perovskite, GdAlO(3), was examined using single-crystal 0.7 angstroms-wavelength synchrotron X-ray diffraction. In the context of other well categorized rare earth aluminate (RAlO(3)) perovskite phases, the orthorhombic Pnma symmetry determined for the current compound is unsurprising. Corner-linked AlO(6) octahedra form the structural backbone of RAlO(3) perovskites and distort to accommodate the various rare earth ions in the structural voids. For GdAlO(3), the octahedral distortion, characterized by tilting of the octahedra about the shortest R-Al-R vectors, and octahedral deformation, characterized by strain of the octahedra along those axes, are in accordance with trends in the RAlO(3) series.