Elementary excitations and phase transitions in crystals
Conference
·
OSTI ID:111937
The unique method of measuring elementary excitations in solids over a wide range of energy and momentum transfers is inelastic scattering of neutrons. Elementary excitations are defined as a correlated motion of atoms or spins in a solid which include phonons, magnons, rotons, or crystal field excitations. These excitations play a fundamental role in a wide variety of structural and magnetic phase transitions and provide the information in understanding the underlying microscopic mechanism of the transformation. Below, I shall review some of the relevant aspects of neutron scattering formalism related to inelastic neutron scattering and demonstrate how it has been applied to the study of phase transitions in crystals. I shall give two examples of structural phase transitions where the phonons are the elementary excitations and studies in a conventional superconductor where the phonon linewidths are a measure of the electron-phonon coupling responsible for the pairing.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76CH00016
- OSTI ID:
- 111937
- Report Number(s):
- BNL--62213; CONF-9509235--1; ON: DE96000413
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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