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Title: Anomalous Nanoscale Optoacoustic Phonon Mixing in Nematic Mesogens

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [7]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Joint Inst. for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna (Russian Federation); Taras Shevchenko National Univ. of Kyiv (Ukraine); Moscow Inst. of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Moscow (Russian Federation)
  3. Volgograd State Technical Univ. (Russian Federation)
  4. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble (France)
  5. Kent State Univ., Kent, OH (United States)
  6. Univ. at Albany, NY (United States)
  7. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)

Recent inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) experiments on mesogens have shown entirely new capabilities with regards to their nanoscale phonon-assisted heat management. Mesogens such as nematic liquid crystals (LCs) are appealing systems for study because their structure and morphology can easily be tuned. We report on Q-resolved ultra-high-resolution IXS, X-ray diffraction, and THz time-domain spectroscopy experiments combined with large-scale all-atom molecular dynamics simulations on the dynamic properties of 5CB LCs. For the first time, we observe a strong mixing of phonon excitations originating from independent in-phase and out-of-phase van-der-Waals-mediated displacement patterns. The coexistence of transverse acoustic and optical modes of 5CB LCs at near room temperature is revealed through the emergent transverse phonon gap and THz light–phonon coupling taking place within the same energy range. Moreover, our experimental observations are supported by analysis showing correlations of spontaneous fluctuations of LCs on picosecond time scales. These findings are significant for the design of a new generation of soft molecular vibration-sensitive nanoacoustic and optomechanical applications.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1566960
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, Vol. 9, Issue 10; ISSN 1948-7185
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The Mixing of Polarizations in the Acoustic Excitations of Disordered Media With Local Isotropy journal October 2018
The mixing of polarizations in the acoustic excitations of disordered media with local isotropy text January 2017

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