Quartic scaling of sound attenuation with frequency in vitreous silica

Abstract: Many theories predict a quartic acoustic attenuation increase at sub-THz frequencies in glassy media for the excess vibrational modes known as the boson peak anomaly. Here by introducing phase-sensitive acoustic spectroscopy techniques with a THz bandwidth, we investigate the acoustic properties of vitreous silica at 15 and 300K in the crucial but unexplored sub-THz gap region below the boson peak. Our results indicate a strong negative dispersion starting at \SI{500}{GHz} and the onset of an athermal quartic-frequency-scaling acoustic attenuation term, which emerges above all other thermal losses.