Progress in Liquid and Glass Physics by Brillouin Scattering Spectroscopy

Inelastic scattering spectroscopies, based on photon or neutron sources, have been recently pushed toward unprecedented flux and resolving power in order to improve the understanding of disordered system physics. Here, the latest development in inelastic spectrometry is reviewed and the advantages of using laser and synchrotron-based instruments in the study of collective dynamics in glass-forming systems are presented. Experimental results concerning a wide set of liquids of increasing complexity exposed to glass transition are reported. Recent advances in the understanding of key properties of amorphous solids and glasses with particular attention to the connection between the vibrational dynamics and the energy dissipation through acoustic channels are also shown. The findings reported here have been achieved by the combined use of the different Brillouin instruments existing worldwide that allow covering a large portion of the so-called kinematic region. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.