Internal Friction of Amorphous Silicon in a Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This study measures the internal friction of amorphous silicon in a magnetic field at low temperatures, finding it largely unaffected by the field, indicating atomic-scale excitations dominate.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed measurement of internal friction in amorphous silicon under magnetic fields at cryogenic temperatures, highlighting atomic excitations as the primary mechanism.

Findings

Internal friction is independent of magnetic field up to 6 T.

Low energy excitations are predominantly atomic in nature.

Field effects on internal friction are negligible within experimental accuracy.

Abstract

The internal friction of e-beam amorphous silicon was measured in a magnetic field between 0 and 6 T, from 1.5-20 K, and was found to be independent of the field to better than 8%. It is concluded that the low energy excitations observed in this experiment are predominantly atomic in nature.