The local vibrational modes of thermal double donors in Si and Ge are investigated by FTIR and ab initio modelling. At most, two oxygen modes are detected from each donor, which exhibit regular shifts with increasing donor number. By using mixtures of 16O and 18O, it is found that in Si the upper band does not yield any new modes suggesting that any oxygen atom is decoupled from any other. However, the lower frequency bands exhibit unique mixed modes proving for the first time that oxygen atoms are coupled together and in close spatial proximity. Ab initio calculations demonstrate that the modes and their isotopic shifts are consistent with a model involving two parallel chains of oxygen atoms linking second neighbour Si atoms, terminated by O-atoms close to the normal position for interstitial O. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.