Physics of Amorphous Metals

While both theorists and experimentalist interested in amorphous metals will profit from this book, it will also be useful supplementary reading in courses on solid-state physics and material sciences.

Contents

1 On the structure of amorphous metals 1

• 1.1 Introduction: preparation of amorphous metals, and simple models 1
• 1.2 The Radial Distribution Function and the Structure Function 3
• 1.3 Structural models of glassy metals 7

• 2.1 An effective Hamiltonian for the electron-ion system of elemental metals 15
• 2.2 Pseudopotential theory 18
• 2.3 Model pseudopotentials 25
• 2.4 Microscopic theory of the homogeneous electron gas 29
• 2.5 The effective interaction between ions in liquid or amorphous metals 37
• 2.6 The effective two-particle ion-ion interaction (to second order in the pseudopotential) 47
• 2.7 Effective ion-ion pair interaction to cubic order in the pseudopotential 52
• 2.8 Many-particle interactions in metallic hydrogen 58
• 2.9 Computer calculations of the electronic structure in metallic amorphous alloys 69

• 3.1 Experiments on the atomic dynamics in glasses 77
• 3.2 A tunnelling model 80
• 3.3 A quasi-phonon model for amorphous metals; heat capacity at moderately low temperatures 99
• 3.4 The quasi-phonon contribution to the heat conductivity and sound absorption at moderately low temperatures 111
• 3.5 Beyond the quasi-phonon approximation 129

• 4.1 Review of experimental results 135
• 4.2 Thermodynamic properties of amorphous ferromagnets near the Curie temperature 139
• 4.3 The spectrum of quasi-magnon excitations in amorphous ferromagnets 150
• 4.4 Low-temperature magnetic behavior of amorphous ferromagnets 156
• 4.5 Beyond the quasi-magnon approach: computer simulations 167
• 4.6 The thermodynamics of amorphous ferromagnets 169
• 4.7 Itinerant magnetism and itinerant spin-glass behavior in amorphous alloys 171

• 5.1 The Eliashberg equation for amorphous metals 179
• 5.2 The electron-phonon coupling constant and the superconducting transition temperature for simple amorphous metals 198
• 5.3 Superconducting properties of binary alloys of simple amorphous metals 205

7 Appendices 217

• Appendix A Calculation of the free energy of amorphous metals 217
• Appendix B Calculation of the free energy of amorphous ferromagnets 220
• Appendix C Derivation of the Eliashberg equation for amorphous metals 238
• Appendix D Simplification of the Eliashberg equation 256
• References 269
• Index 275