The thermal expansion of antimony and bismuth at low temperatures

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Abstract
Results of measurements of the linear thermal expansion of single-crystal rods of pure antimony and bismuth over the temperature range 200 °K to 8 °K, and 200 °K to 45 °K respectively, made using an optical lever dilatometer, are discussed. The principal linear expansion coefficients αperpendicular and αparallel in the directions perpendicular and parallel to the trigonal axis are tabulated and shown graphically as functions of temperature. For both materials αperpensicular is considerably less than αparallel, with antimony showing the greater anisotropy. αperpendicular for antimony is negative below 20 °K, passing through a minimum at 148 °K. Calculated values of the Grüneisen parameters, γperpendicular and γparallel, corresponding to αperpendicular and αparallel are tabulated together with estimates of the high-temperature limiting values of γperpendicular and γparallel.