Thermal Phonon Resonance in Solid Glass

Abstract

Thermal phonon resonance was observed in a stiff solid material of fused silica, from which a lower intensity of scattered light is expected than from liquids. The improved detection sensitivity of the optical beating Brillouin spectroscopy technique enabled us to observe the spontaneous elastic resonance of the solid sample attributable to thermal density fluctuation with a frequency resolution of 1 kHz. The accuracy in determining phonon velocity was then increased up to 10-5. The high frequency resolution also revealed the fine structure of the resonance peak train brought about by the lateral mode vibration, and the eigen frequencies of the compound mode are in good agreement with those theoretically estimated. Volume and shear elasticities were uniquely determined from the resonance spectra of longitudinal and shear phonons. Phonon absorption at about 100 MHz was also determined from the resonance peak width of the Brillouin component.