Phonon behavior in a random solid solution: a lattice dynamics study on the high-entropy alloy FeCoCrMnNi.

High-Entropy Alloys (HEAs) are a new family of crystalline random alloys with four or more elements in a simple unit cell, at the forefront of materials research for their exceptional mechanical properties. Their strong chemical disorder leads to mass and force-constant fluctuations which are expected to strongly reduce phonon lifetime, responsible for thermal transport, similarly to glasses. Still, the long range order would associate HEAs to crystals with a complex disordered unit cell.

Anomalous Lattice Dynamics in AgCN: Insights From Inelastic Neutron Scattering and Density Functional Calculations.

We have performed temperature dependent inelastic neutron scattering measurements to study the anharmonicity of phonon spectra of AgCN. The analysis and interpretation of the experimental spectra is done using lattice dynamics calculations. The calculated phonon spectrum over the entire Brillouin zone is used to derive linear thermal expansion coefficients.

Direct measurement of individual phonon lifetimes in the clathrate compound BaGeAu.

Engineering lattice thermal conductivity requires to control the heat carried by atomic vibration waves, the phonons. The key parameter for quantifying it is the phonon lifetime, limiting the travelling distance, whose determination is however at the limits of instrumental capabilities. Here, we show the achievement of a direct quantitative measurement of phonon lifetimes in a single crystal of the clathrate BaGeAu, renowned for its puzzling 'glass-like' thermal conductivity.

Superionic conduction in β-eucryptite: inelastic neutron scattering and computational studies.

β-Eucryptite (LiAlSiO) is known to show super-ionic conductivity above 700 K. We performed inelastic neutron scattering measurements in β-eucryptite over 300-900 K and calculated the phonon spectrum using classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD simulations were used to interpret the inelastic neutron spectra at high temperatures.

New insights into the compressibility and high-pressure stability of Ni(CN)2: a combined study of neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and inelastic neutron scattering.

Nickel cyanide is a layered material showing markedly anisotropic behaviour. High-pressure neutron diffraction measurements show that at pressures up to 20.1 kbar, compressibility is much higher in the direction perpendicular to the layers, c, than in the plane of the strongly chemically bonded metal-cyanide sheets.

Ordering and dynamics of the central tetrahedron in the 1/1 Zn6Sc periodic approximant to quasicrystal.

Periodic approximants to quasicrystals offer a unique opportunity to better understand the structure, physical properties and stabilizing mechanisms of their quasicrystal counterparts. We present a detailed study of the order-disorder phase transition occurring at about 160 K in the Zn(6)Sc cubic approximant to the icosahedral quasicrystal i-MgZnSc. This transition goes along with an anti-parallel ordering of the tetrahedra located at the centres of large atomic clusters, which are packed on a bcc lattice.

Protein self-diffusion in crowded solutions.

Macromolecular crowding in biological media is an essential factor for cellular function. The interplay of intermolecular interactions at multiple time and length scales governs a fine-tuned system of reaction and transport processes, including particularly protein diffusion as a limiting or driving factor. Using quasielastic neutron backscattering, we probe the protein self-diffusion in crowded aqueous solutions of bovine serum albumin on nanosecond time and nanometer length scales employing the same protein as crowding agent.

Structural dynamics of supercooled water from quasielastic neutron scattering and molecular simulations.

One of the outstanding challenges presented by liquid water is to understand how molecules can move on a picosecond time scale despite being incorporated in a three-dimensional network of relatively strong H-bonds. This challenge is exacerbated in the supercooled state, where the dramatic slowing down of structural dynamics is reminiscent of the, equally poorly understood, generic behavior of liquids near the glass transition temperature. By probing single-molecule dynamics on a wide range of time and length scales, quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) can potentially reveal the mechanistic details of water's structural dynamics, but because of interpretational ambiguities this potential has not been fully realized.

Magnetic lattice dynamics of the oxygen-free FeAs pnictides: how sensitive are phonons to magnetic ordering?

To shed light on the role of magnetism on the superconducting mechanism of the oxygen-free FeAs pnictides, we investigate the effect of magnetic ordering on phonon dynamics in the low-temperature orthorhombic parent compounds, which present a spin density wave. The study covers both the 122 (AFe(2)As(2); A = Ca, Sr, Ba) and 1111 (AFeAsF; A = Ca, Sr) phases. We extend our recent work on the Ca (122 and 1111) and Ba (122) cases by treating, computationally and experimentally, the 122 and 1111 Sr compounds.

A large-volume gas cell for high-energy X-ray reflectivity investigations of interfaces under pressure.

A cell for the investigation of interfaces under pressure is presented. Given the pressure and temperature specifications of the cell, P ≤ 100 bar and 253 K ≤ T ≤ 323 K, respectively, high-energy X-rays are required to penetrate the thick Al(2)O(3) windows. The CH(4)(gas)/H(2)O(liquid) interface has been chosen to test the performance of the new device.

Dynamics of the negative thermal expansion in tellurium based liquid alloys.

Negative thermal expansion (NTE) in tellurium based liquid alloys (GeTe6 and GeTe12) is analyzed through the atomic vibrational properties. Using neutron inelastic scattering, we show that the structural evolution resulting in the NTE is due to a gain of vibrational entropy that cancels out the Peierls distortion. In the NTE temperature range, these competing effects give rise to noticeable changes in the vibrational density of states spectra.

trans-Decahydronaphthalene (decalin) from powder diffraction data.

The title compound, C(10)H(18), a decalin stereoisomer, crystallizes with Z' = 0.5 in the space group P2(1)/n. The trans-decalin molecule is located on an inversion centre with both rings in a chair conformation, making for a quasi-flat overall shape.

Unaffected microscopic dynamics of macroscopically arrested water in dilute clay gels.

Adequate clay minerals considerably affect the macroscopic mechanical behavior of water even at concentrations of a few percent. Thus when 2 wt. % laponite clay mineral nanoparticles are added to water, the resulting colloidal suspension after some time takes on the semisolid characteristics of a jellylike material at room temperature.

Lattice dynamics to trigger low temperature oxygen mobility in solid oxide ion conductors.

SrFeO(2.5) and SrCoO(2.5) are able to intercalate oxygen in a reversible topotactic redox reaction already at room temperature to form the cubic perovskites Sr(Fe,Co)O(3), while CaFeO(2.

Phonon-roton modes and localized Bose-Einstein condensation in liquid helium under pressure in nanoporous media.

We show, using inelastic neutron scattering, that liquid helium in porous media, two gelsils and MCM-41, supports a phonon-roton mode up to a pressure of 36-37 bars only. Modes having the highest energy ("maxons") broaden and become unobservable at the lowest pressures (p approximately 26 bars) while rotons survive to the highest pressure. By comparing with the superfluid density observed by Yamamoto and co-workers in gelsil, we propose that there is a Bose glass phase containing islands of BEC surrounding the superfluid phase.

Experimental evidence for a crossover between two distinct mechanisms of amorphization in ice Ih under pressure.

We report neutron scattering data which reveal the central role of phonon softening leading to a negative melting line, solid-state amorphization, and negative thermal expansion of ice. We find that pressure-induced amorphization is due to mechanical melting at low temperatures, while at higher temperatures amorphization is governed by thermal melting (violations of Born's and Lindemann's criteria, respectively). This confirms earlier conjectures of a crossover between two distinct amorphization mechanisms and provides a natural explanation for the strong annealing observed in high-density amorphous ice.

Phonon-roton excitations in liquid 4He at negative pressures.

We present neutron scattering measurements of the phonon-roton excitations of superfluid 4He held at negative pressures from zero to -5 bar. The liquid was stretched to negative pressures by immersing it in the porous medium MCM-41. In the wave vector range 0.