To the theory of rare gas alloys: heat capacity

Abstract

The low-temperature heat capacity of cryocrystals containing impurity clusters is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Such defects might essentially enrich the low-frequency part of the phonon spectrum by introducing both localized and delocalized vibrations. The effect of both types of vibrations on the temperature dependence of the heat capacity is analyzed. The heat capacity of the disordered solid solution Kr–Ar (Ar concentration ∼25%) is studied as an example of the effect of the light, weakly coupled impurities on the low-temperature thermodynamic characteristics of a system. The mass defect of such an impurity induces “phonon pumping” from the low-frequency part of the spectrum into the high-frequency part and decreases the low-temperature heat capacity, while the weakened interaction between the impurity and the host atoms, combined with even weaker interaction between the impurities, leads to the formation of a low-temperature maximum on the heat capacity temperature dependence. The analysis performed shows that at rather high Ar concentrations, the nonmonotonic temperature dependence of the relative change in the heat capacity of Kr1−pArp solid solutions is a result of the excitation of delocalized high-dispersion low-frequency phonons.