Mechanical loss of calcium fluoride at cryogenic temperatures
- Resource Type
- Authors
- C. Schwarz; Paul Seidel; Ronny Nawrodt; D. Heinert; G. D. Hammond; Andreas Tünnermann
- Source
- physica status solidi (a). 208:2719-2723
- Subject
- Range (particle radiation)
Materials science
Instrumentation
Relaxation process
chemistry.chemical_element
Surfaces and Interfaces
Activation energy
Condensed Matter Physics
Surfaces, Coatings and Films
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
chemistry
Materials Chemistry
Ring down
Fluorine
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Composite material
- Language
- ISSN
- 1862-6300
Low mechanical loss materials are in great demand for micro-mechanical applications as well as high precision instrumentation. We describe low mechanical loss measurements of a calcium fluoride (CaF2) bulk sample. A new mechanical relaxation process was observed for frequencies in the range from 31 to 64 kHz and temperatures of 10 to 50 K. The activation energy of this process was found to be 10 meV. This relaxation process increases the mechanical loss significantly and thus sets limits to the application of this material at these temperatures.