Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy and low-temperature ultrasonic attenuation measurements are reported for filled and unfilled skutterudites and for Ge-clathrates. These data reveal that an unusual elastic behavior complements the thermal properties of the filled skutterudites and indicate the presence of low-energy vibrational modes. The attenuation at low-temperatures in the single-crystalline Ge-clathrate is glasslike and can be described by the same phenomenological Tunneling Model that has been developed to describe the low-temperature properties of amorphous solids.