Abstract:The effect of rare-earth ion size on the octahedral distortions in rare-earth chromites (RCrO 3 , R = Lu, Tb, Gd, Eu, Sm) crystallizing in the orthorhombic structure has been studied using Raman scattering and synchrotron powder x-ray diffraction up to 20 GPa. From our studies on RCrO 3 we found that the octahedral tilts (distortions) increase with pressure. This is contrary to the earlier report which suggests that in LaCrO 3 , the distortions decrease with pressure leading to a more ordered phase at high pressure. Here we observe that the rate of increase in distortion decreases with the increase in R-ion radii. This occurs due to the reduction in the compression of RO 12 polyhedra with a corresponding increase in the compression of the CrO 6 octahedra with increasing R-ion radii. From the Raman studies, we predict a critical R-ion radii, above which we expect the distortions in RCrO 3 to reduce with increasing pressure leading to what is observed in the case of LaCrO 3 . These Raman results are consistent with our pressure dependent structural studies on RCrO 3 (R = Gd, Eu, Sm). Also, our results suggest that the pressure dependence of Néel temperature, T N Cr , (where the Cr 3+ spin orders) in RCrO 3 is mostly affected by the compressions of Cr-O bonds rather than the alteration of octahedral tilts.