Anomalous mode, elastic constants and phonon images in CaWO4

Stimulated by the “anomalous mode” observed in the time-of-flight measurement of phonon signals [J.K. Wigmore, A.G. Kozorezov, H. bin Rani, M. Giltrow, H. Kraus, B.M. Taele, Physica B 316–317 (2002) 589], we have theoretically studied the group velocities and the phonon images in CaWO4. Comparing the phonon caustics of transverse modes in the low-frequency nondispersive and slightly dispersive 1 THz regions, we propose that the anomalous phonon mode is originated from the phonons near the cuspidal edge of the group velocity curve of the fast transverse branch. Also the low-frequency phonon images (two-dimensional maps of phonon group velocities) calculated from the two sets of published elastic-constant data of CaWO4 [J.M. Farley, G.A. Saunders, J. Phys. C: Solid State Phys. 5 (1972) 3021] and [M. Gluyas, F.D. Hughes, B.M. James, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 6 (1973) 2025] are compared. A significant difference is found in the images in the X – Y plane owing to the variance of the reported values of C 13 of about 40%.