Non-mean-field theories of short range order and diffuse scattering anomalies in disordered alloys

TL;DR

This paper reviews theoretical approaches to understanding short-range order in disordered alloys, focusing on the pair correlation function and its implications for diffuse scattering, revealing new experimental possibilities.

Contribution

It introduces a structural perspective on the pair correlation function in alloy models, highlighting its universal features across different theoretical approximations.

Findings

The pair correlation function has an internal structure similar to Green's functions.

This structure is independent of the specific approximation used.

New experimental possibilities in diffuse scattering are suggested based on this structure.

Abstract

Local, or short-range, order in disordered alloys is an important and exciting phenomenon which is quantified in electron, X-ray and neutron scattering experiments. It is discussed in many excellent reviews and books, as well as in the multitude of original research papers. This relatively short review of the subject does not attempt to discuss all aspects of the problem of local correlations in alloys. In particular, we will not touch such issues as multiatom (cluster) interactions, static displacements and vibrations of alloy atoms, partially ordered, multicomponent or amorphous alloys. As a result, we will concentrate on the Hamiltonian traditional for the considered problem, that of the Ising model on a rigid ideal lattice with pair, but otherwise arbitrary (i.e., of any range) interatomic interactions. The central object of the paper is the pair correlation function of the corresponding dynamical variables of the model, the occupation numbers or spin variables, the Fourier transform of which is proportional to the intensity of diffuse scattering caused by atomic short-range order. The main aim is to show that the expression for this quantity has certain internal structure analogous, e.g., to that of the averaged Green's function used in the electronic theory of disordered alloys. This structure is independent of the approximation used for the quantitative description of correlations. As will be seen, this structure alone, without further specification of a particular theory of short-range order, allows us to see new possibilities in diffuse scattering, some of which have recently been observed experimentally.