Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy of some oxide systeMS

Abstract

In the interminable quest for exciting properties in new materials, the measurements of elastic constants are of great importance. Among various techniques for measuring elastic constants, Resonance Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS) offers very high accuracy and efficiency. In this thesis work, we have built an RUS apparatus for room-temperature measurements on millimeter size samples. To this aim, we have designed the sample holder, fully automated the measurement setup, and calibrated the setup using KH2PO4 (KDP), a standard sample with known elastic constants. We have found that the measured resonance frequency spectra match well with the frequency spectra predicted from existing literature values of elastic constants at room temperature. In the future, we aim to develop the setup further to perform temperature-dependent measurements extending down to liquid helium temperatures.