A nuclear resonance photon scattering (NRPS) study of sodium cyanide
(NaC15N) between 10 and 295 K is described. This temperature range
covers the fully ordered phase I, the intermediate antiferroelectric
phase II and the high temperature disordered cubic phase III. The
scattering intensity from the 6324 keV level in 15N was measured
versus temperature and a very good agreement with the calculated values has
been obtained. In the calculations, one has to account for the zero-point
kinetic energy of the internal vibration of the CN- ion and the lattice
modes of NaCN taken from infrared (IR), Raman and vibrational density of
states (VDOS). In another approach, the external modes of motion of
15N in NaCN were accounted for by using an effective Debye temperature
of Θ0 = (310±5) K.