Raman scattering from the CaC6 superconductor in the presence of disorder

Abstract

Polarized Raman scattering has been performed on CaC6 superconductor. We identify two of the three Raman-active E-g phonon modes at 440 and 1508 cm(-1) expected for the R (3) over barm space group of CaC6. These first-order scattering modes appear along with the D and G bands around 1300 and 1600 cm(-1) that are similar in origin to the corresponding bands in plain graphite. The intensities of the D and G bands in CaC6 correlate with degree of disorder. The D band arises from the double resonant Raman-scattering process; its frequency shifts as a function of excitation energy with similar to 35 cm(-1)/eV. The double resonant Raman scattering probes phonon excitations with finite wave vector q. We estimate the characteristic spacing of structural defects to be on the scale of about 100 angstrom by comparing the intensity of the D band and the 1508 cm(-1) E-g mode in CaC6 to calibrated intensity ratio of analogous bands in disordered graphites. A sharp superconducting coherence peak at 24 cm(-1) is observed below T-c.