Low-energy excitations and the fast process of polystyrene thin supported films studied by inelastic and quasielastic neutron scattering

We studied the low-energy excitations in the meV region as well as the picosecond fast process in polystyrene thin supported films using inelastic and quasielastic neutron scattering in a temperature range from 11 to 430 K, covering the bulk glass transition temperature T-g. It was found that the mean square displacement < u(2)> decreased with the film thickness below and above the glass transition temperature T-g, suggesting that the hardening occurs with decreasing the film thickness. Corresponding to the decrease in < u(2)>, it was also found that the density of phonon states G(omega) decreased with film thickness. This decrease occurs mainly in the Debye mode while the contribution of the boson peak mode also decreases with the film thickness without changing the boson peak energy. As for the fast process, which appeared above at about 150 K as a quasielastic scattering, the fraction A(fast)(Q) decreased with the film thickness in a similar manner with the boson peak without changing the relaxation rate, suggesting a common origin for the boson peak and the fast process. These observations showing the hardening were well explained by assuming a hard dense layer at the interface, where the numbers of the boson peak mode as well as the fast process are less than the bulk state.