108 research outputs found
Propagative and diffusive regimes of acoustic damping in bulk amorphous material
In amorphous solids, a non-negligible part of thermal conductivity results
from phonon scattering on the structural disorder. The conversion of acoustic
energy into thermal energy is often measured by the Dynamical Structure Factor
(DSF) thanks to inelastic neutron or X-Ray scattering. The DSF is used to
quantify the dispersion relation of phonons, together with their damping.
However, the connection of the dynamical structure factor with dynamical
attenuation of wave packets in glasses is still a matter of debate. We focus
here on the analysis of wave packets propagation in numerical models of
amorphous silicon. We show that the DHO fits (Damped Harmonic Oscillator model)
of the dynamical structure factors give a good estimate of the wave packets
mean-free path, only below the Ioffe-Regel limit. Above the Ioffe-Regel limit
and below the mobility edge, a pure diffusive regime without a definite mean
free path is observed. The high-frequency mobility edge is characteristic of a
transition to localized vibrations. Below the Ioffe-Regel criterion, a mixed
regime is evidenced at intermediate frequencies, with a coexistence of
propagative and diffusive wave fronts. The transition between these different
regimes is analyzed in details and reveals a complex dynamics for energy
transportation, thus raising the question of the correct modeling of thermal
transport in amorphous materials.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Universal behavior of internal friction in glasses below T : anharmonicity vs relaxation
Comparison of the internal friction at hypersonic frequencies between a few K
and the glass transition temperature Tg for various glasses brings out general
features. At low temperature, internal friction is only weakly dependent on the
material. At high temperature but still below Tg the internal friction for
strong glasses shows a T-independent plateau in a very wide domain of
temperature; in contrast, for fragile glass, a nearly linear variation of
internal friction with T is observed. Anharmonicity appears dominant over
thermally activated relaxational processes at high temperature.Comment: accepted in Physical Review
Density of states in random lattices with translational invariance
We propose a random matrix approach to describe vibrational excitations in
disordered systems. The dynamical matrix M is taken in the form M=AA^T where A
is some real (not generally symmetric) random matrix. It guaranties that M is a
positive definite matrix which is necessary for mechanical stability of the
system. We built matrix A on a simple cubic lattice with translational
invariance and interaction between nearest neighbors. We found that for certain
type of disorder phonons cannot propagate through the lattice and the density
of states g(w) is a constant at small w. The reason is a breakdown of affine
assumptions and inapplicability of the elasticity theory. Young modulus goes to
zero in the thermodynamic limit. It strongly reminds of the properties of a
granular matter at the jamming transition point. Most of the vibrations are
delocalized and similar to diffusons introduced by Allen, Feldman et al., Phil.
Mag. B v.79, 1715 (1999).Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Anharmonic vs. relaxational sound damping in glasses: II. Vitreous silica
The temperature dependence of the frequency dispersion in the sound velocity
and damping of vitreous silica is reanalyzed. Thermally activated relaxation
accounts for the sound attenuation observed above 10 K at sonic and ultrasonic
frequencies. Its extrapolation to the hypersonic regime reveals that the
anharmonic coupling to the thermal bath becomes important in
Brillouin-scattering measurements. At 35 GHz and room temperature, the damping
due to this anharmonicity is found to be nearly twice that produced by
thermally activated relaxation. The analysis also reveals a sizeable velocity
increase with temperature which is not related with sound dispersion. This
suggests that silica experiences a gradual structural change that already
starts well below room temperature.Comment: 13 pages with 8 figure
Anharmonic vs. relaxational sound damping in glasses: I. Brillouin scattering from densified silica
This series discusses the origin of sound damping and dispersion in glasses.
In particular, we address the relative importance of anharmonicity versus
thermally activated relaxation. In this first article, Brillouin-scattering
measurements of permanently densified silica glass are presented. It is found
that in this case the results are compatible with a model in which damping and
dispersion are only produced by the anharmonic coupling of the sound waves with
thermally excited modes. The thermal relaxation time and the unrelaxed velocity
are estimated.Comment: 9 pages with 7 figures, added reference
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