BRILLOUIN SPECTROSCOPY OF LANGMUIR-BLODGETT FILMS (THIN FILMS, ELASTIC CONSTANTS).

Abstract

The goal of this dissertation has been to develop techniques in order to use Brillouin spectroscopy as a tool for studying the elastic properties of thin films on a scale of ≃100 Å. In order to develop that capability we have built a tandem multi-pass Fabry-Perot interferometer, and that interferometer was used to study the elastic properties of Langmuir-Blodgett films. These films were chosen because they can be deposited one molecular layer at a time. As a result of these investigations we have measured the density and elastic constants of the Langmuir-Blodgett film cadmium arachidate. Samples of cadmium arachidate were prepared on molybdenum and BK-7 glass substrates. Data were accumulated for a range of thicknesses and for different scattering geometries. These data will be used to argue that guided acoustic waves were observed in a highly anisotropic film. The observed guided acoustic waves will be identified as a Rayleigh wave and a tight band of Sezawa modes. No Love modes were detected in these experiments; however, evidence for reorientational modes typical of anisotropic liquids was detected. The dispersion of the Rayleigh wave as a function of thickness together with thick film scattering data were used to estimate the elastic constants in cadmium arachidate. In particular the shear elastic constant c₄₄ was found to be a small value: c₄₄ < 4.0x10⁸ N/m². The remaining elastic constants were estimated, assuming hexagonal film symmetry, to be c₆₆ < 4.5x10⁹ N/m², C₁₁ ≃ 1.1x10¹⁰ N/m², c₃₃ ≃ 2.1x10¹⁰ N/m², c₁₃ ≃ 1.0x10¹⁰ N/m², and c₁₂ > 3.x10¹⁰ N/m². It is interesting to note that the acoustical behavior of cadmium arachidate is quite similar to the smectic phase liquid crystals (c₄₄ = 0).