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Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 135505 (2003) [4 pages]

Einstein Oscillators in Thallium Filled Antimony Skutterudites

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Raphaël P. Hermann1, Rongying Jin2, Werner Schweika3, Fernande Grandjean1,*, David Mandrus2, Brian C. Sales2, and Gary J. Long4
1Department of Physics, B5, University of Liège, B-4000 Sart-Tilman, Belgium
2Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831
3Institut für Festkörperforschung, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany
4Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, Missouri 65409-0010

Received 20 December 2002; published 3 April 2003

See accompanying Physics Focus

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on several Tl filled skutterudites (Tl0.5Co3.5Fe0.5Sb12, Tl0.8Co3FeSb12, and Tl0.8Co4Sb11Sn) all show a sharp peak in the vibrational density of states at 57±2  K, which is absent in the unfilled skutterudite CoSb3. Heat capacity measurements on Tl0.8Co4Sb11Sn as compared to CoSb3 are consistent with the presence of a localized vibrational mode associated with the “rattling” thallium atoms in this filled skutterudite compound. Both results are well described by a localized Einstein mode model with an Einstein temperature ΘE of 53±1  K. These data provide perhaps the clearest example of local mode behavior in a concentrated metallic system.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.135505
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.135505
PACS:
63.20.Pw, 61.12.–q, 65.40.Ba

*To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Email address: fgrandjean@ulg.ac.be

 
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