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Transverse excitations in liquid Fe, Cu and Zn
S Hosokawa1, M Inui, Y Kajihara
1Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan.
Summary
Transverse acoustic (TA) modes in liquid metals like iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) were detected using inelastic X-ray scattering. These findings reveal insights into the dynamics and structure of liquid metals.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Liquid State Physics
Background:
- Understanding the dynamic behavior of liquid metals is crucial for materials science.
- Transverse acoustic (TA) modes are fundamental excitations in solids but their observation in liquids is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally detect and characterize transverse acoustic (TA) excitation modes in liquid iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn).
- To investigate the relationship between TA modes and the microscopic structure of liquid metals.
- To determine the properties of TA modes, including their lifetime and propagation length.
Main Methods:
- Inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) was employed to probe the dynamics of liquid Fe, Cu, and Zn.
- Analysis of current correlation functions, specifically quasi-TA branches in longitudinal current correlation spectra, was used for TA mode detection.
- Microscopic elastic constants and Poisson's ratio were estimated from the experimental data.
Main Results:
- Transverse acoustic (TA) excitation modes were successfully observed in the inelastic X-ray scattering spectra of liquid Fe, Cu, and Zn.
- A significantly softer Poisson's ratio (∼0.38) was found for liquid Fe compared to its macroscopic polycrystalline value (∼0.275).
- The lifetime of TA modes was determined to be approximately 0.45 ps for liquid Fe and Cu, and 0.55 ps for liquid Zn.
- The propagation length of TA modes was consistently found to be around 0.85 nm in all studied liquid metals, suggesting a correlation with cage-like structures.
Conclusions:
- TA excitation modes can be experimentally detected in liquid metals via quasi-TA branches in longitudinal current correlation spectra.
- The study provides evidence for distinct interatomic correlations in liquid transition metals versus non-transition metals.
- The propagation length of TA modes suggests their connection to the transient, cage-like structures present in liquid metals.
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