This PhD thesis reports on investigations of several oxide-based materials using advanced infrared and Raman spectroscopy techniques and in combination with external stimuli such as high magnetic or electric field, sptial confinement in thin film heterostructures and the radiation with UV light. This leads to new results in the fields of superconductivity, electronic polarization states and nanoscale phenomena. Among these, the observation of anomalous polar moments is of great relevance for understanding the electric-field-induced metal-to-insulator transistion; and the demonstration that...