2001/03/02 by R. Osborn, E. A. Goremychkin, A. I. Kolesnikov +2
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Iron-based superconductors research #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Superconductivity in MgB2 and Alloys #cond-mat.supr-con
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.87.017005
published as Phys. Rev. Lett, 87, 017005 (2001) · RevTeX 4 pages 3 figures
arxiv created 2001/03/02 · openalex publication_date 2001/06/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements of the phonon density of states in Mg 11B2, which has a superconducting transition at 39.2 K. The acoustic phonons extend in energy to 36 meV, and there are highly dispersive optic branches peaking at 54, 78, 89, and 97 meV. A simple Born-von Kàrmàn model reproduces the mode energies, and provides an estimate of the electron-phonon coupling of lambda approximately 0.9. Furthermore, the estimated boron and magnesium contributions to the isotope effect are in qualitative agreement with experiment. The data confirm that a conventional phonon mechanism, with moderately strong electron-phonon coupling, can explain the observed superconductivity.