Abstract
The melting of nitric acid intercalated in graphite is a weak first-order transition where the order parameter varies rapidly in the liquid phase. We have studied the molecular dynamics by high-resolution neutron scattering using time-of-flight, backscattering, and spin-echo spectrometers. We have observed two different rotational motions. In one of them, the number of molecules in motion varies with the temperature. We have measured the quasielastic scattering in the neighborhood of the melting point and have shown that the diffusion constant varies continuously and follows the Kosterlitz-Thouless law of defect mediated melting. An analysis of the wave-vector dependence of this mobility shows that the defects can be dislocations, but the mobility of the atoms in the core of the dislocations is not analyzed in the theories. Our results provide a new approach to the nature of the defects in such transitions.
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