Abstract
The phonon propagation in lamellar nanostructures formed via self-assembling of short styrene-b-isoprene (SI) as well as of its more incompatible styrene-b-(ethylene-alt-propylene) (SEP) counterpart was studied by inelastic x-ray scattering. Irrespective of the physical state of the block copolymers, a single acoustic phonon was observed in SI (ordered and disordered) and SEP (ordered). At GHz frequencies, inelastic light scattering from the same samples revealed very small dispersion in the sound phase velocity but a short phonon lifetime. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.