Phonon dispersion relations in semiconductor superlattices in the adiabatic bond-charge model

The phonon dispersion in semiconductor superlattices is studied in the adiabatic bond-charge model. The complex phonon dispersion relations of the constituent bulk materials are obtained via the eigenvalue method in a zeroth-order calculation, which includes only short range forces and Coulomb interactions between ions and bond charges in the same and neighboring layers. The eigenmode displacements of the superlattice are obtained by matching the eigenvectors associated with complex phonon branches at the interfaces. The effect of the remaining Coulomb interactions are then included in the first-order approximation. The results for the superlattice phonon frequencies compare favorably with the existing experimental data.     

Magnetic moment of phonons in graphene induced by a magnetic field

A magnetic field not only changes the electronic structure in graphene but also affects the phonon excitations via the electron-phonon interaction and even enables the phonons to generate magnetism. In this paper, we evaluate the magnetic moment of phonons in graphene using a generating-functional technique. The calculation results indicate that the phonon magnetic moment exists only in a weak magnetic field. The step-like change of the magnetic moment with the magnetic field reflects a macroscopic quantum effect.     

半导体超晶格声子激光器的研究进展

太赫兹频率的相干声子在纳米尺度器件的探测和操控领域具有重要的应用价值。半导体超晶格声子激光器是实现太赫兹频率相干声子源稳定输出的重要途径。本文首先回顾了GHz到THz频率范围声学放大的多种方法,然后详细阐述了超晶格声子放大、超晶格声学布拉格镜的工作原理与设计方法以及声子激光器的阈值条件,同时总结了电抽运和光抽运结构器件的研究现状,最后简要讨论了亚太赫兹声子激光器在声-电子领域的应用。分析表明,这种能够产生强相干太赫兹声子的半导体超晶格声子激光器在纳米尺度器件的探测与成像等方面具有广阔的发展前景。     

Solution of the problem of indirect spin-spin interaction via the phonon field

A new transformation which differs from the famous one of Fröhlich is introduced to transform the hamiltonian of the interacting spin system and phonon system to a representation which leads to the exact expression for the operator H_SS of the indirect spin-spin interaction via the phonon field. The evident form of the operator H_SS is determined.     

On the synergistic effects of laser/phonon-stimulated processes: A master equation approach

The synergistic effects of an adspecies/surface system influenced by a coherent laser field and an incoherent thermal phonon field are theoretically investigated. A generalized master equation is derived in the Schrödinger-Markoff picture and the total stimulated transition rates are decomposed into three parts: thermal phonon, laser and the interference terms. The energy transfer dynamics is pictured via the evolution equation of the average excitation of the active mode. A random phase of the off-diagonal matrix elements induced by the laser-stimulated surface processes is introduced. Finally, possible applications of the laser/phonon-stimulated master equation are discussed.     

Generation mechanism for coherent LO phonons in surface-space-charge fields of III-V-compounds

We report on details of coherent LO phonon generation in surface-space-charge regions of III-V-compounds by optical injection of free carriers with laser pulses of 50 fs duration at 2 eV. Both the dynamics of the transient surface field, as well as the coherent lattice vibration, are measured via electro-optic sampling techniques under different experimental conditions. The driving force for the coherent phonon vibration is the sudden depolarization of the crystal lattice due to ultrafast screening of the intrinsic electrical surface field by photoexcited free carriers.     

Influence of the quantum dot shape on the determination of the electronic structure and electron decoherence

Theoretical calculations of electron–phonon scattering rates in AlGaN/GaN quantum dots (QDs) have been performed by means of effective mass approximation in the frame of finite element method. The influence of a symmetry breaking of the carrier's wave function on the electron dephasing time is investigated for various QDs shapes. In a QD system the electron energy increases when the QD shape changes from a spherical to a non-spherical form. In addition, the influence of the QD shape upon the electronic structure can be modulated by external magnetic fields. We also show that the electron–acoustic phonon scattering rates strongly depend upon both the QD shape and the applied magnetic field. As an additional parameter, the QD shape can be used to modify the electron–acoustic phonon interaction in a wide range. Moreover, the scattering rate of different transitions, such as Δm=0(1), presents distinct magnetic field dependency.     

Terahertz absorption by electrons and confined acoustic phonons in free-standing quantum wells

The acoustic phonon confinement in a free-standing quantum well (FSQW) results in an acoustic phonon energy quantization. Typical quantization energies are in the terahertz frequency range. Free electrons may absorb electromagnetic waves in this frequency range if they emit or absorb acoustic phonons. Therefore, the terahertz absorption reveals the characteristic features of the acoustic phonon spectrum in free-standing structures. We have calculated the absorption coefficient of an electromagnetic wave by free electrons in a FSQW in the terahertz frequency range. We took into account a time dependent electric field, an exact form of the acoustic phonon spectrum and eigenmodes, and electron interactions with confined acoustic phonons through the deformation potential. We demonstrate numerical results for GaAs FSQW of width 100 Å at low lattice temperatures in the frequency range 0.1-1 THz. The absorption coefficient exhibits several structures at frequencies corresponding to the lowest acoustic phonon modes. These features occur due to absorption of photons by electrons, which is accompanied by the emission of corresponding acoustic phonons.     

Determination of the LO phonon energy by using electronic and optical methods in AlGaN/GaN

The longitudinal optical (LO) phonon energy in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures is determined from temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements and also from Infrared (IR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The Hall effect measurements on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures grown by MOCVD have been carried out as a function of temperature in the range 1.8-275 K at a fixed magnetic field. The IR and Raman spectroscopy measurements have been carried out at room temperature. The experimental data for the temperature dependence of the Hall mobility were compared with the calculated electron mobility. In the calculations of electron mobility, polar optical phonon scattering, ionized impurity scattering, background impurity scattering, interface roughness, piezoelectric scattering, acoustic phonon scattering and dislocation scattering were taken into account at all temperatures. The result is that at low temperatures interface roughness scattering is the dominant scattering mechanism and at high temperatures polar optical phonon scattering is dominant.     

A method to calculate the thermal conductivity of HMX under high pressure

A method based on Debye theory is developed to calculate the thermal conductivity of octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX). The phonon–phonon interaction model is built up for solid HMX. The phonon lifetime formula is derived by the phonon–phonon scattering mechanism, and the thermal conductivity tensor is derived by the phonon dispersion model. The thermal conductivities of α/β/δ-HMX are calculated in the temperature range 0–700?K and pressure range of 0–10?GPa. The phonon softening process of HMX is investigated. We have proven that the Debye frequency and thermal conductivity tend to 0 at the phonon softening point. A physical picture of the phonon–phonon interaction, phonon lifetime and phonon softening is built up.     

Nonuniform electric field effect on phonon-assisted tunneling in semiconductors

Expressions for the phonon-assisted indirect tunneling probability in the presence of a nonuniform electric field due to two mechanisms are calculated explicitly. The first mechanism is a first order one in which an electron on one band scatters to another band with the emission of a phonon. The other mechanism is a second order process in which an electron in one band tunnels to an intermediate state in a higher band via the interband term in the Hamiltonian and then scatters to another band with the emission of a phonon. It is shown that the electric field nonuniformity enhances the indirect tunneling probability.     

The effects of the magnetopolaron on the energy gap opening in graphene

The magnetopolaron is formed via electron-acoustic deformation phonon coupling in the presence of a magnetic field in monolayer graphene. We find that an energy gap (EG) is opened due to the electron-phonon coupling. Both linear and square-root forms for the dependence of the EG on the magnetic field are obtained, which are in agreement with experimental measurements. Furthermore, we suggest that the EG can be estimated through observing the variation of Fermi velocity in cyclotron resonance experiments. The relation of the EG with the Debye cut-off wavenumber is also discussed.     

Decoherence in superconducting quantum bits by phonon radiation

We discuss a fundamental limitation for the coherent operation of superconducting quantum bits originating from phonon radiation generated in the Josephson junctions of the device. The time dependent superconducting phase across the junction produces an electric field that couples to the underlying crystal lattice via the piezoelectric effect. We determine the radiation resistance of the junction due to phonon emission and derive substantial decoherence rates for the quantum bits, which are compatible with quality factors measured in recent experiments.     

玻璃中两能级隧道态耦合态及其对低频声吸收的影响

讨论了在声子作用下，两能级隧道态耦合态激发和退激发规律，并用此理论解释低温低频声吸收规律 关键词：     

纤锌矿相GaN空穴输运特性的Monte Carlo模拟研究

用全带多粒子Monte Carlo方法模拟纤锌矿相(Wurtzite)GaN空穴输运特性的结果. 用经验赝势法计算得到能带结构数据. 模拟包含了声学声子散射，光学声子散射，极性光学声子散射，压电散射，电离杂质散射及带间散射等散射机理. 计算得到了空穴沿3个主要对称方向上的空穴平均漂移速度和平均能量与电场强度的关系曲线，室温下漂移速度呈现饱和特性. 在所研究的电场范围内，最大平均漂移速度约为6×10⁶cm s^-1，最大空穴平均能量约为0.12eV, 这些值均比电子的相应参数低很多. 还给出了空穴的扩散迁移率与杂质浓度关系的模拟结果. 关键词： 蒙特卡罗 氮化镓 输运特性 能带结构     

The bound polaron in an electric field in polar semiconductor heterostructures

We have calculated the ionization energy of a bound polaron confined in general step quantum wells (QWs) in the presence of an electric field, in which the coupling of an electron with confined bulk-like LO phonons, half-space LO phonons and interface phonons is considered. In particular, the interaction of the impurity with the various phonon modes is also included in QWs. Results have been obtained as a function of the barrier height, the well width, the electric field intensities and the position coordinates of the impurity in the QWs. Our numerical calculations clearly show that the interaction between the impurity and the phonon field plays an important role in screening the Coulomb interaction. It is shown that the cumulative effect of the electron–phonon coupling and the impurity–phonon coupling can contribute appreciably to the donor ionization energy. Only for a certain range of well widths can we neglect all the polaronic effects.     

Transient response of hot electrons in narrow-gap semiconductors at low temperatures in the presence of a longitudinal quantizing magnetic field

Transient response of hot electrons in narrow-gap semiconductors to a step electric field in the presence of a longitudinal quantizing magnetic field has been studied at low temperatures using displaced Maxwellian distribution. The energy and momentum balance equations are used assuming acoustic phonon scattering via deformation potential responsible for the energy relaxation and elastic acoustic phonon scattering together with ionized impurity scattering for momentum relaxation. The calculations for the variation of drift velocity and electron temperature as functions of time are made for n-Hg_0.8Cd_0.2 Te in the extreme quantum limit at 1.5 K and 4.2 K. The momentum and energy relaxation times are found to be of the same order of magnitudes as with the experimental values. The magnetic field and lattice temperature dependences of the relaxation rates have been investigated.One of the authors, Suchandra Bhaumik, acknowledges the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (New Delhi) for financial support.     

An accurate determination of the excess low temperature heat capacity of a superconducting metallic glass

The specific heat of an amorphous superconductor Zr₃Rh (T_{c = 4.3 K}) has been measured in the temperature range from 0.35 K to 10 K and with an applied magnetic field of 75 kG. The high field suppresses superconductivity and allows accurate determination of the phonon (βT³) term for the lowest temperatures studied. A careful subtraction of the normal electronic specific heat (γT) and phonon terms reveals a well defined excess linear heat capacity γ'T at low temperature. This excess term is attributed to localized lattice excitations using the two-level tunneling defect model of Phillips.     

Statistical Theory of the Phonon Drag Force Acting on a Conduction Electron

Within the framework of microscopic fluctuation-dissipation theory, we obtain the stochastic equation describing the Brownian motion of an electron in the phonon field of the crystal lattice. An expression for the Green’s function of the phonon field is found in general form and for the case of linear phonon-variable interaction of an electron with the phonon field with allowance for the potential screening of crystal-lattice nuclei. An expression for the phonon drag acting on a conduction electron in the lattice field is found and analyzed with allowance for the interaction. Frequency dependence of the coefficient of the phonon drag acting on a conduction electron is studied and the contribution of the electron-phonon interaction to the effective mass of a charge carrier is determined.__________Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 48, No. 3, pp. 249–268, March 2005.     

Electron states in diluted magnetic semiconductors

One of the remarkable properties of the II–VI diluted magnetic semiconductor (DMS) quantum dot (QD) is the giant Zeeman splitting of the carrier states under application of a magnetic field. This splitting reveals strong exchange interaction between the magnetic ion moment and electronic spins in the QD. A theoretical study of the electron spectrum and of its relaxation to the ground state via the emission of a longitudinal optical (LO) phonon, in a CdSe/ZnMnSe self-assembled quantum dot, is proposed in this work. Numerical calculations showed that the strength of this interaction increases as a function of the magnetic field to become more than 30 meV and allows some level crossings. We have also shown that the electron is more localized in this DMS QD and its relaxation to the ground state via the emission of one LO phonon is allowed.