Measurement of phonon dispersion relation in negative thermal expansion compound ZrW2O8

Abstract

Isotropic negative thermal expansion (NTE) is found in cubic AX 2O8(A = Zr, Hf: X=W, Mo) up to high temperatures (1050 K). Anharmonicity of low energy phonon modes plays an important role in leading to the NTE behaviour. Earlier we verified our predictions of large phonon softening for low energy phonons (below 8 meV) through high-pressure inelastic neutron scattering measurements on powder samples at ILL, France. Now we have measured the phonon dispersion relation from a single crystal of ZrW2O 8. The measurements are useful to verify our prediction of highly anharmonic nature of specific phonon branches, in particular the transverse acoustic branch, and other branches up to 10 meV. These modes below 10 meV mainly contribute to the NTE in ZrW2O8. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.