64 research outputs found
Absence of molecular mobility on nano-second time scales in amorphous ice phases
High-resolution neutron backscattering techniques are exploited to study the
elastic and quasi-elastic response of the high-density amorphous (HDA), the
low-density amorphous (LDA) and the crystalline ice Ic upon temperature
changes. Within the temperature ranges of their structural stability (HDA at T
> 80 K, LDA at T > 135 K, ice Ic at T < 200 K) the Debye-Waller factors and
mean-square displacements characterise all states as harmonic solids. During
the transformations HDA->LDA (T ~ 100 K), LDA->Ic (T ~ 150K) and the supposed
glass transition with Tg ~ 135 K no relaxation processes can be detected on a
time scale t < 4 ns. It can be concluded from coherent scattering measurements
(D_2O) that LDA starts to recrystallise into ice Ic at T ~ 135 K, i.e. at the
supposed Tg. In the framework of the Debye model of harmonic solids HDA reveals
the highest Debye temperature among the studied ice phases, which is in full
agreement with the lowest Debye level in the generalised density of states
derived from time-of-flight neutron scattering experiments. The elastic results
at low T indicate the presence of an excess of modes in HDA, which do not obey
the Bose statistics
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