Hyper-Raman Scattering Observation of the Boson Peak in Vitreous Silica

Hyper-Raman spectroscopy is used to investigate low frequency vibrations of various silica glasses. A strong boson peak is observed. The corresponding modes are inactive in infrared and Raman spectra, and are nonacoustic in nature. The shape of this boson peak essentially matches the total density of vibrational states (DOS), with a constant coupling coefficient C. This and other indications suggest that these modes actually dominate the DOS of silica.