The possibility of transverse excitation modes in liquid Ga.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONDENSED MATTER : AN INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS JOURNAL 2008;
20:114107. [PMID:
21694200 DOI:
10.1088/0953-8984/20/11/114107]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
The dynamic structure factor S(Q,ω) of liquid Ga was measured at 100 °C using a high resolution inelastic x-ray scattering (IXS) spectrometer at 3-ID-C/APS. The spectra obtained clearly demonstrate the existence of longitudinal propagating modes at small Q values, like a previous IXS result at 42 °C obtained by Scopigno et al and an inelastic neutron scattering (INS) one at 47 °C obtained by Bove et al, but unlike an INS study at 57 °C by Bermejo et al. The dispersion relation of the excitations deviates positively from the hydrodynamic prediction by about 13%. There are two new findings from this experiment. Firstly, an additional lower energy excitation is necessary to reproduce S(Q,ω) spectra in the Q range beyond 10 nm(-1), in agreement with the result of a first-principles molecular dynamic simulation, which may indicate a transverse acoustic mode in this peculiar liquid metal. Secondly, the quasielastic line comprises a Gaussian contribution at Q values near the first maximum in S(Q), which may indicate the existence of short-lived covalent correlation in liquid Ga with a lifetime of 0.39 ps.
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