Glassy Anomalies in the Low-Temperature Thermal Properties of a Minimally Disordered Crystalline Solid

J. F. Gebbia, M. A. Ramos, D. Szewczyk, A. Jezowski, A. I. Krivchikov, Y. V. Horbatenko, T. Guidi, F. J. Bermejo, and J. Ll. Tamarit
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 215506 – Published 21 November 2017

Abstract

The low-temperature thermal and transport properties of an unusual kind of crystal exhibiting minimal molecular positional and tilting disorder have been measured. The material, namely, low-dimensional, highly anisotropic pentachloronitrobenzene has a layered structure of rhombohedral parallel planes in which the molecules execute large-amplitude in-plane as well as concurrent out-of-plane librational motions. Our study reveals that low-temperature glassy anomalies can be found in a system with minimal disorder due to the freezing of (mostly in-plane) reorientational jumps of molecules between equivalent crystallographic positions with partial site occupation. Our findings will pave the way to a deeper understanding of the origin of the above-mentioned universal glassy properties at low temperature.

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  • Received 21 April 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.215506

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

J. F. Gebbia1, M. A. Ramos2, D. Szewczyk3, A. Jezowski3, A. I. Krivchikov4, Y. V. Horbatenko4, T. Guidi5, F. J. Bermejo6, and J. Ll. Tamarit1

  • 1Grup de Caracterizació de Materials, Departament de Fisica, EEBE and Barcelona Research Center in Multiscale Science and Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Eduard Maristany, 10-14, 08019 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
  • 2Laboratorio de Bajas Temperaturas, Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Condensed Matter Physics Center (IFIMAC) and Instituto Nicolás Cabrera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Francisco Tomás y Valiente 7, 28049 Madrid, Spain
  • 3Institute for Low Temperature and Structure Research, Polish Academy of Sciences Okólna 2, 50-422 Wrocław, Poland
  • 4B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of NAS Ukraine, 47 Science Avenue, Kharkov 61103, Ukraine
  • 5ISIS Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
  • 6Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC, Serrano 123, 28006 Madrid, Spain

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 21 — 24 November 2017

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