Depolarized Raman scattering in normal and supercooled antimony trichloride

Depolarized low frequency Raman spectra obtained for molten antimony trichloride are discussed. Measurement has also been performed on the supercooled liquid down to 53.2° below the melting point (tm = 73.4 °C. The experimental results indicate that the spectral contributions, in the range 2–100 cm−1 of Stokes shift from the exciting line are due to: (1) a central Lorentzian line, whose width and intensity are connected to the dynamics of the break-up of intermolecular chlorine bridges; and (2) a solidlike contribution that furnishes an effective density of states, which corresponds to a convolution of ’’acoustical’’ and ’’optical’’ modes in a coupled linear chain structure with middle range order.