Laser-Based Studies of Hyperquenched and Other Amorphous Films

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9307034 Small This project combines laser-based techniques with a new, practical methodology for reproducible, well-defined fabrication of thin (tens of micrometers or less) hyperquenched glassy films. New, powerful experimental techniques such as spectral hole burning and coherent time domain spectroscopies will be used to develop an adequate understanding of the physics of amorphous solids. The research deals with various aspects of the disorder, low-energy excitations and low-temperature configurational relaxation (tunnelling) processes of amorphous solids. A select number of organic liquids and waater will be utilized in the experimental studies. The proposed investigation can be divided into three parts: 1) studies of disorder and relaxation phenomena in hyperquenched glassy and other amorphous solid films; 2) examination of temperature dependencies of thermal conductivity and spectral diffusion; and 3) the probing of special disorder-induced, low-frequency vibrational modes of amorphous solids. These studies on amorphous semi-conductors and superconductors and metal glasses have found and will continue to find technological applications, particularly because human proteins have much in common with amorphous solids, and that the solution to the nuclear waste problem may well rest on safe, million-year containment in doped glasses. Also, the results from these studies in organic systems will impact experimentalists and theoreticians working on other materials. ***