Heat capacity anomalies of the molecular crystal 1-fluoro-adamantane at low temperatures

Disorder–disorder phase transitions are rare in nature. Here, we present a comprehensive low-temperature experimental and theoretical study of the heat capacity and vibrational density of states of 1-fluoro-adamantane (C10H15F), an intriguing molecular crystal that presents a continuous disorder–disorder phase transition at T = 180 K and a low-temperature tetragonal phase that exhibits fractional fluorine occupancy. It is shown that fluorine occupancy disorder in the low-T phase of 1-fluoro-adamantane gives rise to the appearance of low-temperature glassy features in the corresponding specific heat (i.e., “boson peak” -BP-) and vibrational density of states. We identify the inflation of low-energy optical modes as the main responsible for the appearance of such glassy heat-capacity features and propose a straightforward correlation between the first localized optical mode and maximum BP temperature for disordered molecular crystals (either occupational or orientational). Thus, the present study provides new physical insights into the possible origins of the BP appearing in disordered materials and expands the set of molecular crystals in which “glassy-like” heat-capacity features have been observed.

Universal law for the vibrational density of states of liquids

An analytical derivation of the vibrational density of states (DOS) of liquids, and, in particular, of its characteristic linear in frequency low-energy regime, has always been elusive because of the presence of an infinite set of purely imaginary modes—the instantaneous normal modes (INMs). By combining an analytic continuation of the Plemelj identity to the complex plane with the overdamped dynamics of the INMs, we derive a closed-form analytic expression for the low-frequency DOS of liquids. The obtained result explains, from first principles, the widely observed linear in frequency term of the DOS in liquids, whose slope appears to increase with the average lifetime of the INMs. The analytic results are robustly confirmed by fitting simulations data for Lennard-Jones liquids, and they also recover the Arrhenius law for the average relaxation time of the INMs, as expected.

Lattice Dynamics of CrW Dilute Alloy Using Modified Embedded Atom Method Potential

A modified embedded atom method (MEAM) has been used to study the lattice dynamics and vibrational properties of CrW alloy. Using the MEAM potential the force-constants up to second neighbours for pure Cr and its dilute alloy with small concentration of W as substitutional impurity are calculated. The Phonon dispersions for dilute CrW alloy at 0.3%, 0.8% and 1.6 % concentration of W substitutional impurity have been computed and the obtained results are compared with the available experimental data. We have obtained a very good agreement with the experimentally measured results of phonon dispersions. With the application of obtained force-constants from MEAM potential, the local vibrational density of states in ideal crystal and its alloys using Green’s function method has been calculated. On the basis of the results of local vibrational density of states, the condition of resonance modes has been investigated. Using the calculated vibrational local density of states, the mean square thermal displacements of impurity atoms in CrW alloys are also calculated.

Vibrational density of states of amorphous solids with long-ranged power-law-correlated disorder in elasticity

A theory of vibrational excitations based on power-law spatial correlations in the elastic constants (or equivalently in the internal stress) is derived, in order to determine the vibrational density of states D($\omega$ ω ) of disordered solids. The results provide the first prediction of a boson peak in amorphous materials where spatial correlations in the internal stresses (or elastic constants) are of power-law form, as is often the case in experimental systems, leading to a logarithmic enhancement of (Rayleigh) phonon attenuation. A logarithmic correction of the form $ \sim -\omega^{2}\ln\omega$ ∼ - ω 2 ln ω is predicted to occur in the plot of the reduced excess DOS for frequencies around the boson peak in 3D. Moreover, the theory provides scaling laws of the density of states in the low-frequency region, including a $ \sim\omega^{4}$ ∼ ω 4 regime in 3D, and provides information about how the boson peak intensity depends on the strength of power-law decay of fluctuations in elastic constants or internal stress. Analytical expressions are also derived for the dynamic structure factor for longitudinal excitations, which include a logarithmic correction factor, and numerical calculations are presented supporting the assumptions used in the theory. Graphical abstract