Effects of Large Nuclear Quadrupoles on Dielectric Properties of Glasses at Very Low Temperatures

Abstract

The universal behaviour of amorphous solids at low temperatures, governed by atomic tunneling systems as described by the standard tunneling model, has long been a generally accepted fact. In the last years, however, measurements of dielectric two-pulse polarization echoes have revealed that nuclear quadrupole moments involved in atomic tunneling systems can cause specific material-dependent effects in magnetic fields. We have performed measurements of the dielectric properties of the two multicomponent glasses N-KZFS11 and HY-1, containing several percent of tantalum oxide and holmium oxide respectively. As 181Ta and 165Ho both carry very large nuclear quadrupole moments, these glasses are ideal candidates to study the influence of nuclear quadrupole moments on the properties of glasses at very low temperatures. Our measurements not only show unique dielectric behaviour in both glasses, but also differ significantly from various predictions of the standard tunneling model.