Observation of coherent optical phonons excited by femtosecond laser radiation in Sb films by ultrafast electron diffraction method

The generation of coherent optical phonons in a polycrystalline antimony film sample has been investigated using femtosecond electron diffraction method. Phonon vibrations have been induced in the Sb sample by the main harmonic of a femtosecond Ti:Sa laser (λ = 800 nm) and probed by a pulsed ultrashort photoelectron beam synchronized with the pump laser. The diffraction patterns recorded at different times relative to the pump laser pulse display oscillations of electron diffraction intensity corresponding to the frequencies of vibrations of optical phonons: totally symmetric (A _1g ) and twofold degenerate (E _g ) phonon modes. The frequencies that correspond to combinations of these phonon modes in the Sb sample have also been experimentally observed.     

Coherent control of the lattice dynamics of bismuth near the lindemann stability limit

The relative contributions of the anharmonicity of the lattice potential and the nonequilibrium concentration of charge carriers to the time dependence of the coherent A _1g phonon frequency in bismuth excited by high-energy ultrashort laser pulses are studied by the coherent control method. The contributions are separated by the pump-probe method in which excitation is performed by two pulses with a controlled time delay. It is shown that, depending on the relative delay between the pump pulses, both correlation and anticorrelation between the amplitude and the initial frequency of oscillations are observed while the chirp and the initial frequency of the coherent phonon are anticorrelated. In addition, it has been found that the contributions of the lattice and the electronic subsystem are always anticorrelated. Therefore, a certain phase can be assigned to an electronic excitation and it may be suggested that the time dependence of the phonon frequency is determined not only by instantaneous values of the lattice and electronic response but also by the phase relations between them.     

High-order harmonic generation by atoms in a two-color laser field: Phase control of recombination radiation spectrum and duration

The feasibility of phase control over above-threshold tunnel ionization and subsequent recombination emission in two-frequency laser fields is studied. It is shown that, in such fields, we can control the instants of ionization t₀ (within optical cycle T) and recombination t _k . The conditions that minimize the characteristic times δt₀?T and δt _k ?T, within which effective ionization and recombination occur, were found. Phase control allows recombination radiation to be generated with the selection of a narrow spectral range, while additional high-frequency “background illumination” sets up high harmonic “amplification” conditions. It was shown that special two-frequency pumping with elliptically polarized radiation can generate coherent electromagnetic pulses of attosecond width. The width of the pulses decreases as the intensity of pumping increases and can reach subattosecond values. Experimental generation of such pulses may lead to a breakthrough in the development of new methods for femto-and attosecond diagnostics of fast processes.     

Impact of subthreshold laser defect accumulation on the optical stability of crystals

Optoacoustic means are used to study the kinetics of laser damage accumulation in potassium chloride crystals. This approach allows us to observe the accumulation of changes in KCl crystals when it is irradiated by a series of laser pulses of subthreshold intensity in a variety of actions (alloying, applying an external electric field, UV illumination). Number of laser pulses N _cr required to destroy a specimen at the same density of radiation power depends on density power I as N ~ I ^?4. Results are explained by the formation and accumulation of structural defects during photochemical reactions under the action of laser radiation.     

Molecular dynamics calculations of anharmonic properties of the vibrational spectrum of BCC zirconium under pressure

The structural stability and lattice dynamics of the high-pressure bcc phase of Zr at a constant temperature T = 500 K are studied for various volumes using molecular dynamics simulation with the Animalu pair pseudopotential. Dispersion curves of the vibrational spectrum calculated by the molecular dynamics method for various volumes are compared to the phonon spectrum obtained in the harmonic approximation. It is demonstrated that, as the volume decreases, all frequencies of the vibrational spectrum increase gradually and bcc zirconium remains strongly anharmonic along all high-symmetry directions of the Brillouin zone over the entire range of volumes studied. The strongly anharmonic N _T1 phonon is significantly softened near the point of structural instability of bcc-Zr at T = 500 K and V = 0.87V ₀. As the volume decreases to V = 0.73V ₀ under pressure, the anharmonic corrections for this phonon decrease by almost an order of magnitude and the phonons near the H point of the Brillouin zone become anharmonic. The damping of the T ₁ phonon mode along the [110] direction is calculated as a function of pressure.     

Electron–phonon heat exchange in quasi-two-dimensional nanolayers

We study the heat power P transferred between electrons and phonons in thin metallic films deposited on free-standing dielectric membranes. The temperature range is typically below 1 K, such that the wavelengths of the excited phonon modes in the system is large enough so that the picture of a quasi-two-dimensional phonon gas is applicable. Moreover, due to the quantization of the components of the electron wavevectors perpendicular to the metal film’s surface, the electrons spectrum forms also quasi two-dimensional sub-bands, as in a quantum well (QW). We describe in detail the contribution to the electron–phonon energy exchange of different electron scattering channels, as well as of different types of phonon modes. We find that heat flux oscillates strongly with thickness of the film d while having a much smoother variation with temperature (T _e for the electrons temperature and T _ph for the phonons temperature), so that one obtains a ridge-like landscape in the two coordinates, (d, T _e ) or (d, T _ph ), with crests and valleys aligned roughly parallel to the temperature axis. For the valley regions we find P ∝ T _e ^3.5 – T _ph ^3.5 . From valley to crest, P increases by more than one order of magnitude and on the crests P cannot be represented by a simple power law. The strong dependence of P on d is indicative of the formation of the QW state and can be useful in controlling the heat transfer between electrons and crystal lattice in nano-electronic devices. Nevertheless, due to the small value of the Fermi wavelength in metals, the surface imperfections of the metallic films can reduce the magnitude of the oscillations of P vs. d, so this effect might be easier to observe experimentally in doped semiconductors.     

Mechanisms of ionization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis><Subscript>2</Subscript>-centers in laser media on the basis of LiF crystals

F₂ color centers with a superhigh concentration (5000-cm^–1 absorption coefficient at 450 nm) were formed by high-density electron beams in a layer of LiF crystals of micrometer thickness. The F₂-centers excited by high-power nanosecond wide-band optical pulses (the “soft” pumping regime) efficiently amplified the laser radiation and showed high stability under these conditions. A low stability of F₂-centers to laser radiation (the “hard” excitation regime) is explained by the dissociation of (F ₂ ⁺ , F^–) pairs induced by two-step ionization of F₂-centers: (2hν > 4.5 eV) → F₂ → (F₂)* → F ₂ ⁺ + e; F + e → F^–; F ₂ ⁺ + F^– → 3F.     

Low-temperature thermal conductivity of tellurium-doped bismuth

Phonon thermal conductivities κ₂₂ (?T ‖ C1) and κ₃₃ (? T ‖ C₃) of tellurium-doped bismuth with an electron concentration in the range 1.8 × 10¹⁹ ≤ n_L ≤ 1.4 × 10²⁰ cm^?3 were studied in the temperature interval 2 < T < 300 K. The temperature dependence of the phonon thermal conductivity obtained on doped bismuth samples of both orientations exhibits two maxima, one at a low temperature and the other at a high temperature. The effect of various phonon relaxation mechanisms on the dependence of both phonon thermal conductivity maxima on temperature, impurity concentration, and electron density is studied.     

Mechanical and Dynamic Stability of Complete and Nonstoichiometric 3<Emphasis Type="Italic">C</Emphasis>-Si<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>C<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">y</Emphasis></Subscript> from Ab Initio Calculations

The energies of formation of vacancies in the carbon and silicon sublattices, the independent elastic constants, the all-round compression, shear and Young’s moduli, and the anisotropy coefficients are determined for the complete and nonstoichiometric cubic phases of 3C-Si_xC_y (x, y = 1.0–0.75) by ab initio methods of the band theory. In the formalism of the density functional perturbation theory (DFPT), the phonon dispersion dependences are obtained for these phases (the comparison with the experiment is given for the complete phase). It is shown that the mechanical characteristics of the phases become strongly anisotropic upon the transition from 3C-SiC_0.875 to 3C-SiC_0.75. It is established from the analysis of the phonon dispersion curves that the 3C-SiC_0.875 and 3C-SiC_0.75 phases, in contrast to the complete 3C-SiC phase, are dynamically unstable at T = 0 K.     

The effect of phase difference of subpicosecond IR laser pulses propagating in a GaAs/ZnTe periodic structure on the efficiency of generation of the sum and difference frequencies radiations

The results of theoretical research and numerical simulation of the nonlinear interaction process of mutually orthogonal and linearly polarized IR subpicosecond laser pulses with the one-dimensional periodic structure of the GaAs/ZnTe are presented. In particular, the interaction of such pulses with the equal amplitude electric field of 70.71 MV/m, with the duration of 333 fs at the central wavelength λ₀ = 10 μm, with the periodic structure of the GaAs and the ZnTe with the thickness of layers equal to λ₀/2n_GaAs = 1.527 μm and λ0/4n_ZnTe = 0.931 μm, respectively, and with the number of periods equal to 100 is considered. It is shown that the efficiency of generation of sum and difference frequencies is proportional to the phase difference of the interacting IR pump pulses.     

BCS theory of driven superconductivity

We study the impact of a time-dependent external driving of the lattice phonons in a minimal model of a BCS superconductor. Upon evaluating the driving-induced vertex corrections of the phonon-mediated electron-electron interaction, we show that parametric phonon driving can be used to elevate the critical temperature T_c, while a dipolar phonon drive has no effect. We provide simple analytic expressions for the enhancement factor of T_c. Furthermore, a mean-field analysis of a nonlinear phonon-phonon interaction also shows that phonon anharmonicities further amplify T_c. Our results hold universally for the large class of normal BCS superconductors.     

Photoinduced semiconductor-metal phase transition in the surface layer of vanadium dioxide

The photoinduced semiconductor-metal phase transition occurring for a time Δt < 1 ps in the surface layer of vanadium dioxide is studied theoretically. A nonthermal mechanism of instability development is considered. An equation for the order parameter ξ of the photoinduced semiconductor-metal phase transition is derived. It is shown that the transition of the surface layer of VO₂ to the metallic state requires irradiation by a laser pulse whose energy density W exceeds a critical value W _c. The phase transition is initiated at the surface, after which the interface propagates deep into the sample. The critical energy density W _c, the velocity of propagation of the metal-semiconductor interface, the thickness z ₀, and the characteristic time Δt of formation of the metal layer are calculated. The theoretical results obtained are in agreement with the experimental data on irradiation of vanadium dioxide single crystals by high-intensity laser pulses.     

Heat capacity and velocity of sound in the YbMgCu<Subscript>4</Subscript> “light” heavy-fermion system

This paper reports on a measurement of the heat capacity at constant pressure (C _p ) in the temperature range 3–320 K and the sound velocity (v) at 77 K for the “light” heavy-fermion compound YbMgCu₄. The present experimental data on C _p and v of YbMgCu₄, combined with our earlier phonon thermal conductivity data for YbMgCu₄ in the range 5–300 K, have been used to calculate the phonon mean free path l in this compound. The temperature dependence of l obtained is found to be characteristic of classical amorphous materials.     

Excitation of the Classical Electromagnetic Field in a Cavity Containing a Thin Slab with a Time-Dependent Conductivity

We derive an exact infinite set of coupled ordinary differential equations describing the evolution of the modes of the classical electromagnetic field inside an ideal cavity containing a thin slab with the time-dependent conductivity σ(t) and dielectric permittivity ε(t) for the dispersion-less media. We analyze this problem in connection with the attempts to simulate the so-called dynamical Casimir effect in three-dimensional electromagnetic cavities containing a thin semiconductor slab periodically illuminated by strong laser pulses. Therefore, we assume that functions σ(t) and δε(t) = ε(t) ? ε(0) are different from zero during short time intervals (pulses) only. Our main goal here is to find the conditions under which the initial nonzero classical field could be amplified after a single pulse (or a series of pulses). We obtain approximate solutions to the dynamical equations in the cases of “small” and “big” maximal values of the functions σ(t) and δε(t). We show that the single-mode approximation used in the previous studies can be justified in the case of “small” perturbations, but the initially excited field mode cannot be amplified in this case if the laser pulses generate free carriers inside the slab. The amplification could be possible, in principle, for extremely high maximum values of conductivity and the concentration of free carries (the model of an “almost ideal conductor”) created inside the slab under the crucial condition providing the negativity of the function δε(t). This result follows from a simple approximate analytical solution confirmed by exact numerical calculations. However, the evaluation shows that the necessary energy of laser pulses must be, probably, unrealistically high.     

Critical temperature of metallic hydrogen sulfide at 225-GPa pressure

The Eliashberg theory generalized for electron—phonon systems with a nonconstant density of electron states and with allowance made for the frequency behavior of the electron mass and chemical potential renormalizations is used to study T _c in the SH₃ phase of hydrogen sulfide under pressure. The phonon contribution to the anomalous electron Green’s function is considered. The pairing within the total width of the electron band and not only in a narrow layer near the Fermi surface is taken into account. The frequency and temperature dependences of the complex mass renormalization ReZ(ω), the density of states N(ε) renormalized by the electron—phonon interactions, and the electron—phonon spectral function obtained computationally are used to calculate the anomalous electron Green’s function. A generalized Eliashberg equation with a variable density of electron states has been solved. The frequency dependence of the real and imaginary parts of the order parameter in the SH₃ phase has been obtained. The value of T _c ≈ 177 K in the SH₃ phase of hydrogen sulfide at pressure P = 225 GPa has been determined by solving the system of Eliashberg equations.     

Construction of a dynamical matrix for an HCP crystal using phonon data at the symmetry points of the Brillouin zone and elastic constants

General analytical expressions are obtained for the dynamical matrix D(k) and the elastic constants C _ik in an HCP crystal in terms of the Born-von Karman (BvK) parameters. An analytical method is proposed for constructing D(k) on the basis of data about the phonon frequencies ω _i (N) at the symmetry points of the Brillouin zone and the elastic constants C _ik . A number of relations between the values of ω _i (N) and C _ik are presented for conventional interaction models. It is shown that the standard method for determining BvK parameters by fitting them to experimental phonon spectra in HCP lattices is, as a rule, ambiguous, whereas the analytical method proposed allows one to find all the solutions of the problem. The methods developed are illustrated by the construction of dynamical matrices for Tb, Sc, Ti, and Co.     

Heat capacity and thermopower coefficient of the carbon preform of sapele wood

This paper reports on measurements of the heat capacity at constant pressure C _p in the 80–300-K temperature interval and the thermopower coefficient S at 5–300 K of the carbon preform of sapele wood, which was prepared at the carbonization temperature of 1000°C. Measurements of C _p (T), our previous data on the phonon thermal conductivity, and literature information on the sound velocity have been used to calculate the phonon mean free path l(T) for this material. It has been shown that within the temperature interval 200–300 K, l is constant and equal to 11 Å, a figure matching the size of the nanocrystallites (“graphite fragments”) making up the carbon framework of the sapele carbon preform. The high-temperature parts of S(T) have been found to follow a linear course characteristic of diffusive thermopower for the degenerate state of charge carriers, with only one type of charge carriers present. The anisotropy of the thermopower coefficient has been estimated.     

Effect of the amplitude of excitation pulses on the shape of photon-echo signals in two-level systems

It is theoretically established that multiple photon-echo signals reflect the oscillatory structure of the primary echo signal, which arises under the conditions of collinear excitation of two-level active centers by laser pulses having the same width but different amplitudes. It is shown that the oscillatory structure of the primary photon echo exists within the intervals (?t ₁, t ₁) and (?2t ₁, 2t ₁), where t ₁ is the pulse width. It is found that, when the pulse width is of the same order of magnitude as the delay between the pulses and the amplitudes of the excitation pulses obey certain relations, the oscillatory structure of the primary photon-echo signal becomes asymmetric. In the mode of quadratic detection of the primary photon-echo signal, the asymmetric oscillatory structure of the primary echo manifests itself as a manifold of isolated signals (multiple photon echoes), with the time intervals between these signals being equal to the pulse width.     

A method to calculate thermal conductivity of a nonperiodic system,bamboo Si<Subscript>1−x</Subscript>Ge<Subscript>x</Subscript> nanowire with axially degraded components

For a nonperiodic system, a bamboo Si_1?x Ge _x nanowire with axially degraded components, it is impossible to obtain its phonon dispersion relations through lattice dynamic or the first principle calculation. Therefore, we present a simple and available method to solve this problem. At first, the Si_1?x Ge _x nanowire with axially degraded component is divided into several sections according to its component distribution like bamboos’ sections formed in the growth process. For each section with a given x value, we constructed a pseudo-cell to calculate its phonon dispersion relations. Thermal conductances of junctions and of each section are then calculated by the phonon mismatch model and the phonon transmission probability with diffusive and ballistic portions. The dependences of thermal conductivity on the length of each section and the gradient of degraded component between sections are presented. We studied thermal conductivity dependence on temperature, length and diameter of the Si_1?x Ge _x nanowire with axially degraded component. And we found κ ~ l ^0.8, in which the exponent 0.8 is ascribed to the competition between phonons ballistic and diffusive transport. Furthermore, thermal conductivities along axial (100), (110), and (111) directions are discussed in detail. The method provides a simple and available tool to study thermal conductivity of a non-period system, such as a quasiperiodic superlattice or a nanowire with axially degraded component.     

Thermopower of <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>B<Subscript>12</Subscript> dodecaborides (<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis> = Ho,Er, Tm,Lu)

Detailed measurements of the Seebeck coefficient S(T) in a broad range of temperatures (T = 2–300 K) have been performed for the first time for RB₁₂ dodecaborides (R = Ho, Er, Tm, Lu) in paramagnetic (diamagnetic for LuB₁₂) and antiferromagnetic states. At intermediate temperatures (10–300 K), the thermopower is determined by the interaction of carriers with phonon modes, which are related to the oscillations of rare-earth atoms in the framework of atomic clusters B₁₂. A comparative analysis of the parameters determining photon drag the thermopower related to the phonon drag and the results of galvanomagnetic measurements shows evidence for a significant effect of spin fluctuations on the behavior of charge transport characteristics in RB₁₂ compounds with strong electron correlations.