High frequency dynamics of liquid metals

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bove, L.E. | Petrillo, C.^; | Sacchetti, F.^;

Affiliations: INFM CRS-SOFT, c/o Universita’ di Roma “La Sapienza”, I-00185 Roma, Italy | Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita’ di Perugia, Perugia, Italy

Note: [] Institut Laue Langevin, BP 156, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel.: + 33-476207560. Email: [email protected]

Abstract: High resolution inelastic neutron scattering measurements on a wide class of liquid metals are reported. The driving role of the electron density in the propagation and decay of collective excitations is emphasized. A quantitative relation between the anomalous sound velocity dispersion in liquid metals and the screening of the ionic potential due to the electron gas is found. In particular, a scaling law of the dispersion curves in heavy alkali metals is obtained by applying the Bohm–Staver (BS) model for the ion plasma. Furthermore, a unified description of the alkali and polyvalent metals dynamics is achieved by means of the introduction of electron correlation and ionic size effects.

Keywords: Liquid metals, Dynamics, Inelastic neutron scattering, Electron density

DOI: 10.1080/10238160601049088

Journal: Journal of Neutron Research, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 339-344, 2006