Velocity of Sound and Acoustic Attenuation in Pure Gallium Single Crystals

The velocity of sound for both transverse and longitudinal waves has been measured in single crystals of pure gallium. These velocity data have been used to calculate a complete set of elastic constants for gallium at 273, 77, and 4.2 °K. A survey has also been made of the acoustic attenuation in gallium at approximately 5 MHz over the range 1.5–300 °K. The measurements were made using a transducerless method which utilizes the direct electromagnetic generation of acoustic waves at the surfaces of a metal to excite standing sound waves in a slab-shaped specimen. It is demonstrated that this technique is both convenient and sensitive: changes of 1:106 in the velocity of sound in gallium were found to be readily measurable over the range 1.5–300 °K.