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Title: Thermal acoustic excitations with atomic-scale wavelengths in amorphous silicon

Journal Article · · Physical Review Materials
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [3];  [1]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Div. of Engineering and Applied Science
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Material Science and Technology Div.
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

The vibrational properties of glasses remain a topic of intense interest due to several unresolved puzzles, including the origin of the Boson peak and the mechanisms of thermal transport. Inelastic scattering measurements have revealed that amorphous solids support collective acoustic excitations with low THz frequencies despite the atomic disorder, but these frequencies are well below most of the thermal vibrational spectrum. Here, we report the observation of acoustic excitations with frequencies up to 10 THz in amorphous silicon. The excitations have atomic-scale wavelengths as short as 6 Å and exist well into the thermal vibrational frequencies. Simulations indicate that these high-frequency waves are supported due to the high group velocity and monatomic composition of a-Si, suggesting that other glasses with these characteristics may also exhibit such excitations. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that a substantial portion of thermal vibrational modes in amorphous materials can still be described as a phonon gas despite the lack of atomic order.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1526377
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1524118; OSTI ID: 1526967
Journal Information:
Physical Review Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 6; ISSN 2475-9953
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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