Anomalies in the velocity of longitudinal ultrasonic waves in cesium under the pressure up to 5 GPa

Abstract

The velocity of longitudinal ultrasonic waves, ν₁,(P), in polycrystalline cesium was measured at 293 ±1K in the pressure interval 0–5 GPa. v ₁(P) alterations at BCC-FCC phase transition at 2.3 GPa and at the electronic-structure transformation at 4.3 GPa were obtained. Decrease of v ₁(P) to 4.3 GPa after a maximum at ∼3.8 GPa were found, that gave evidence to the appearance of a corresponding soft mode in the FCC-Cs phonon spectrum. The peculiarities of dependence v ₁(P) correlate with s-conduction electrons promotion to the empty d-band in accordance with the theoretically predicted continuous electronic s-d transformation in Cs.

Key Words:

• Cesium
• high pressure
• phase transition
• ultrasonic waves velocity
• soft mode