Elastic anomalies in strontium titanate

The anomalies of the second and third-order elastic constants have been considered for the phase transition of strontium titanate within the framework of Landau's theory. All the anomalies of the second-order elastic constants have been obtained in a single formula using Kronecker delta functions and relations among them have been established. The real parts of C*11 and C*44 decrease steeply across the transition temperature and thereafter flatly tend to their asymptotic values in the low temperature phase agreeing qualitatively with experimental observations. We have also derived expressions for the third-order elastic anomalies and discussed the temperature variation of the real part of C*111. We have derived expressions for the attenuation of the longitudinal and transverse waves along certain simple symmetry directions and have shown that there is nearly good agreement with experimental observations. © 1994 the Indian Academy of Sciences.