On some controversy regarding νOH assignments in CsH2PO4

Spectroscopic methods such as Raman scattering and IR absorption, as well as structural methods such as x-ray and n-diffraction, offer rather ambiguous interpretation of the high-frequency phonon spectrum of CsH2PO4 (CDP), especially regarding the proper assignment of proton vibrational modes. Empirical lattice dynamics (LD) simulations of the proton vibrational density of states ((H-VDOS)) in CDP also reveal a discrepancy in the frequency assignments of the OH stretching modes of its two non-equivalent hydrogen bonds. This may be resolved by accounting for the LD simulated directional (H-VDOS) along the three Cartesian axes of CDP, from which the corresponding anisotropy of the proton kinetic energy tensor can be deduced. The results may then be tested by a simple deep inelastic neutron scattering (DINS) measurement on a single crystal of para-electric CDP at room temperature.