Evidence for a quasi-two-dimensional proton glass state in Cs5H3(SO4)(4); xH(2)O Crystals

S G Lushnikov; S N Gvasaliya; A I Fedoseev; V H Schmidt; G F Tuthill; L A Shuvalov

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2838

Evidence for a quasi-two-dimensional proton glass state in Cs5H3(SO4)(4); xH(2)O Crystals

Phys Rev Lett. 2001 Mar 26;86(13):2838-41. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2838.

Authors

S G Lushnikov¹, S N Gvasaliya, A I Fedoseev, V H Schmidt, G F Tuthill, L A Shuvalov

Affiliation

¹ A.F. Ioffe Physical Technical Institute RAS, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia.

PMID: 11290052
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.2838

Abstract

We describe damping of hypersonic and ultrasonic longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons in crystals of Cs 5H (3)(SO (4))(4);xH 2O (PCHS) between 100 and 360 K. The damping of LA phonons exhibits strong dispersion caused by relaxation processes in the region of transformation into the glasslike phase (T(g) approximately 260 K). Near T(g) the damping of ultrasonic phonons propagating in the basal plane reflects the cooperative freezing of acid protons. The damping of LA phonons propagating perpendicular to the basal plane can be fit by the Debye model and is due to the interaction between protons and LA phonons. This suggests that the proton glass state that is realized at T<T(g) has a quasi-two-dimensional nature.