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Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 125501 (2006) [4 pages]

Formation of a New Dynamical Mode in α-Uranium Observed by Inelastic X-Ray and Neutron Scattering

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M. E. Manley1,2, M. Yethiraj3, H. Sinn4, H. M. Volz1, A. Alatas4, J. C. Lashley1, W. L. Hults1, G. H. Lander5, and J. L. Smith1
1Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
2Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA
3Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
4Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
5European Commission, JRC, Institute for Transuranium Elements, Postfach 2340, D-76125 Karlsruhe, Germany

Received 9 January 2006; published 29 March 2006

See accompanying Physics Focus

Phonon dispersion curves were obtained from inelastic x-ray and neutron scattering measurements on α-uranium single crystals at temperatures from 298 to 573 K. Both measurements showed a softening and an abrupt loss of intensity in the longitudinal optic branch along [00ζ] above 450 K. Above the same temperature a new dynamical mode of comparable intensity emerges along the [01ζ] zone boundary with energy near the top of the phonon spectrum. The new mode forms without a structural transition but coincides with an anomaly in the mechanical deformation behavior. We argue that the mode is an intrinsically localized vibration and formed as a result of a strong electron-phonon interaction.

© 2006 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.125501
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.125501
PACS:
63.20.−e, 64.30.+t, 78.70.Nx
 
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