Résumé
We reinvestigate sound dispersion and attenuation in a SiO2 layer as a function of temperature over the range 20–300 K by picosecond acoustics [1]. A pulse-echo scheme is used, where a broadband strain-pulse (centered at 120 GHz) is detected in an Al transducer after propagating back and forth through the SiO2 layer. The acoustic attenuation coefficient α within the SiO2 layer is evaluated by fitting the echoes to a mismatch model including an effective local law for the frequency dependence of attenuation over the band of the pulse. In this way, the T dependence of α in SiO2 layers could be extracted in this work for the first time. Results are found to follow rather well a model combining coupling to thermally activated relaxation mechanisms and interactions with thermal vibrations. This leads to a non-trivial variation of the attenuation coefficient with frequency and temperature. The number density of relaxing defects in the SiO2 layer is found to be slightly higher than that in bulk v-SiO2. In contrast, similar anharmonic contribution to acoustic absorption is observed in both systems. The velocity variations are also measured and are compared to the dynamical velocity changes deduced from the sound attenuation.