Spontaneous decay of a soft optical phonon in the relaxor ferroelectric PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3

C. Stock; P. M.  Gehring; R. A. Ewings; Z. G. Xu; J. Li; D. Viehland; H. Luo

doi:10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024404

Spontaneous decay of a soft optical phonon in the relaxor ferroelectric PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3

C. Stock^*
, P. M. Gehring
, R. A. Ewings
, Z. G. Xu
, J. Li
, D. Viehland
, H. Luo

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report the spontaneous decay of a soft, optical phonon in a solid. Using neutron spectroscopy, we find that specific phonon lifetimes in the relaxor PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/)3O(3) are anomalously short within well-defined ranges of energy and momentum. This behavior is independent of ferroelectric order and occurs when the optical phonon with a specific energy and momentum can kinematically decay into two acoustic phonons with lower phase velocity. We interpret the well-known relaxor "waterfall" effect as a form of quasiparticle decay analogous to that previously reported in quantum spin liquids and quantum fluids.

Original language	English
Article number	024404
Number of pages	6
Journal	Physical Review Materials
Volume	2
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024404
Publication status	Published - 13 Feb 2018

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

INELASTIC NEUTRON-SCATTERING
X-RAY-SCATTERING
SINGLE-CRYSTALS
PHASE-TRANSITIONS
LEAD MAGNONIOBATE
LATTICE-DYNAMICS
BEHAVIOR
MODE
PB(MG1/3NB2/3)O-3
TEMPERATURES

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10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024404

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title = "Spontaneous decay of a soft optical phonon in the relaxor ferroelectric PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3",

abstract = "We report the spontaneous decay of a soft, optical phonon in a solid. Using neutron spectroscopy, we find that specific phonon lifetimes in the relaxor PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/)3O(3) are anomalously short within well-defined ranges of energy and momentum. This behavior is independent of ferroelectric order and occurs when the optical phonon with a specific energy and momentum can kinematically decay into two acoustic phonons with lower phase velocity. We interpret the well-known relaxor {"}waterfall{"} effect as a form of quasiparticle decay analogous to that previously reported in quantum spin liquids and quantum fluids.",

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author = "C. Stock and Gehring, \{P. M.\} and Ewings, \{R. A.\} and Xu, \{Z. G.\} and J. Li and D. Viehland and H. Luo",

year = "2018",

month = feb,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024404",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

journal = "Physical Review Materials",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Spontaneous decay of a soft optical phonon in the relaxor ferroelectric PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3

AU - Stock, C.

AU - Gehring, P. M.

AU - Ewings, R. A.

AU - Xu, Z. G.

AU - Li, J.

AU - Viehland, D.

AU - Luo, H.

PY - 2018/2/13

Y1 - 2018/2/13

N2 - We report the spontaneous decay of a soft, optical phonon in a solid. Using neutron spectroscopy, we find that specific phonon lifetimes in the relaxor PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/)3O(3) are anomalously short within well-defined ranges of energy and momentum. This behavior is independent of ferroelectric order and occurs when the optical phonon with a specific energy and momentum can kinematically decay into two acoustic phonons with lower phase velocity. We interpret the well-known relaxor "waterfall" effect as a form of quasiparticle decay analogous to that previously reported in quantum spin liquids and quantum fluids.

AB - We report the spontaneous decay of a soft, optical phonon in a solid. Using neutron spectroscopy, we find that specific phonon lifetimes in the relaxor PbMg(1/3)Nb(2/)3O(3) are anomalously short within well-defined ranges of energy and momentum. This behavior is independent of ferroelectric order and occurs when the optical phonon with a specific energy and momentum can kinematically decay into two acoustic phonons with lower phase velocity. We interpret the well-known relaxor "waterfall" effect as a form of quasiparticle decay analogous to that previously reported in quantum spin liquids and quantum fluids.

KW - INELASTIC NEUTRON-SCATTERING

KW - X-RAY-SCATTERING

KW - SINGLE-CRYSTALS

KW - PHASE-TRANSITIONS

KW - LEAD MAGNONIOBATE

KW - LATTICE-DYNAMICS

KW - BEHAVIOR

KW - MODE

KW - PB(MG1/3NB2/3)O-3

KW - TEMPERATURES

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024404

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.024404

M3 - Article

SN - 2475-9953

VL - 2

JO - Physical Review Materials

JF - Physical Review Materials

IS - 2

M1 - 024404

ER -

Spontaneous decay of a soft optical phonon in the relaxor ferroelectric PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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