ULTRASONIC SPECTROSCOPY

Professor Robert G. Leisure

Department of Physics

Ultrasonic spectroscopy has been used for many years at Colorado State University as a sensitive probe of condensed matter. The current focus is on a powerful new technique called Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy. RUS involves the excitation of the vibrational eigenmodes of a small sample, usually in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. A calculated eigenmode for one particular parallelepiped is illustrated at the upper left of this page. A RUS spectrum of a single sample of mm dimensions yields the full set of elastic constants, even for relatively low-symmetry materials. In addition, the Qs of the resonances provide information about slow dynamic process difficult to investigate with many other techniques. The Ultrasonics Laboratory at Colorado State is equipped with state of the art electronics, as well as cryostats and furnaces, to carry out measurements under a wide range of conditions. The philosophy is to use the unique facilities at Colorado State to perform collaborative research on novel and interesting materials with researchers at other universities and national laboratories in the United States as well as elsewhere.

Sample in RUS Spectrometer

Parallelepiped sample mouted in RUS spectrometer. The sample is approximately one mm on an edge.