On the effect of phonon decay on electronic transitions in ionic crystal semiconductors

Generally electronic processes in semiconductors are accompanied by phonon excitations. These excitations themselves influence electronic transitions. On the other hand excited phonons decay by interaction with other impurities in the crystal, which act as a heat-bath. The resulting competition between phonon exciting electronic processes and phonon decay is described by Pauli's master equation. By expansion of its solutions into phonon decay solutions the problem can be separated into different decay equations for phonons and electrons as proposed by Stumpf. Assuming linear phonon-heat-bath coupling the phonon decay equation can be solved exactly by a generating function technique. The appropriate phonon decay frequencies are calculated for a simple heat-bath model.     

Polar optical phonon states and dispersive spectra of wurtzite ZnO nanocrystals embedded in zinc-blende MgO matrix

Based on the macroscopic dielectric continuum model and Loudon’s uniaxial crystal model, the polar optical phonon modes of a quasi-0-dimensional (Q0D) wurtzite spherical nanocrystal embedded in zinc-blende dielectric matrix are derived and studied. It is found that there are two types of polar phonon modes, i.e. interface optical (IO) phonon modes and the quasi-confined (QC) phonon modes coexisting in Q0D wurtzite ZnO nanocrystal embedded in zinc-blende MgO matrix. Via solving Laplace equations under spheroidal and spherical coordinates, the unified and analytical phonon states and dispersive equations of IO and QC modes are derived. Numerical calculations on a wurtzite/zinc-blende ZnO/MgO nanocrystal are performed. The frequency ranges of the IO and QC phonon modes of the ZnO/MgO nanocrystals are analyzed and discussed. It is found that the IO modes only exist in one frequency range, while QC modes may appear in three frequency ranges. The dispersive frequencies of IO and QC modes are the discrete functions of orbital quantum numbers l and azimuthal quantum numbers m. Moreover, a pair of given l and m corresponds to one IO mode, but to more than one branches of QC. The analytical phonon states and dispersive equations obtained here are quite useful for further investigating Raman spectra of phonons and other relative properties of wurtzite/zinc-blende Q0D nanocrystal structures.     

锗硅合金半导体中无声子参与光跃迁机制研究

研究了Ｓｉ１－ｘＧｅｘ合金半导体中无声子参与光嗅迁的产机制，对由杂质无规分布引起的无声子参与光跃迁给出了一个物理模型。用此模型计算了光跃迁偶极矩，给出了跃迁偶极矩的上限。提出了未掺杂Ｓｉ１－ｘＧｅｘ合金半导体中无声子参与光跃迁的一种跃迁机制，认为是Ｇｅ原子周围波函数畸变的集体行为。     

Putting mechanics into circuit quantum electrodynamics

We review the use of mechanical oscillators in circuit quantum electrodynamics. The capacitive coupling of nano-electromechanical systems with quantum bits and superconducting microwave resonators gives rise to a rich quantum physics involving electrons, photons and phonons. We focus in particular on the linear coupling between a mechanical oscillator and a microwave resonator and present the quantum dynamics that stems from the phonotonic Josephson junction. The microwave cavity turns out to be a powerful device to detect quantum phonon states and manipulate entangled states between phonons and photons.     

Transfer of quantum correlations in nonunitary evolution

A generalized Lindblad equation has been derived for describing the evolution of two dynamical systems interacting with a bath formed by two broadband modes of squeezed light in an entangled state. The transfer of quantum correlations, in particular, entanglement between the bath and dynamic systems, which are taken in the form of two electromagnetic field modes separated by two high-Q cavities, two atoms, and an atom and a mode, has been analyzed. It has been found that the entanglement of the bath is transferred both to two modes and to two atoms, which can form an almost perfect Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pair. It has been shown that the interaction of the bath with the system consisting of an atom and a mode for which collective boson operators are introduced leads to the appearance of coherent and squeezed states.     

Microscopic structure of <Superscript>126</Superscript>Ba in IBM terms

The yrast band of the nonaxially deformed ¹²⁶Ba nucleus is described by the Hamiltonian of the interaction boson model. Its parameters are calculated on the basis of a microscopic theory within a spherical mean field, and residual interactions that include pairing and multipole factorized forces. Each state of the yrast band is considered independently of others, allowing us to study variations in the superfluid properties of the nucleus and the quasiparticle structure of collective D phonons with spin. The calculations are performed in an expanded configuration space that includes the collective D phonon states, and noncollective states in which an additional phonon of positive parity whose spin assumes values of 0 to 6 is present along with the D phonons. It is shown that the collective Hamiltonian parameters cannot be reproduced without considering the effect of the noncollective states.     

Resonant Raman scattering in CdSxSe1−x nanocrystals: effects of phonon confinement,composition, and elastic strain

Optical phonon modes, confined in CdS_xSe_1−x nanocrystal (NC) quantum dots (≈2 nm in radius) grown in a glass matrix by the melting‐nucleation method, were studied by resonant Raman scattering (RRS) spectroscopy and theoretical modeling. The formation of nanocrystalline quantum dots (QDs) is evidenced by the observation of absorption peaks and theoretically expected resonance bands in the RRS excitation spectra. This system, a ternary alloy, offers the possibility to investigate the interplay between the effects of phonon localization by disorder and phonon confinement by the NC/matrix interface. Based on the concept of propagating optical phonons, which is accepted for two‐mode pseudo‐binary alloys in their bulk form, we extended the continuous lattice dynamics model, which has successfully been used for nearly spherical NCs of binary materials, to the present case. After determining the alloy composition for NCs (that was evaluated with only 2–3% uncertainty using the bulk longitudinal optical phonon wavenumbers) and the NC size (using atomic force microscopy and optical absorption data), the experimental RRS spectra were described rather well by this theory, including the line shape and polarization dependence of the scattering intensity. Even though the presence of a compressive strain in the NCs (introduced by the matrix) masks the expected downward shift owing to the phonons' spatial quantization, the asymmetric broadening of both Raman peaks is similar to that characteristic of NCs of pure binary materials. Although with some caution, we suggest that both CdSe‐like and CdS‐like optical phonon modes indeed are propagating within the NC size unless the alloy is considerably heterogeneous. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A renormalization scheme for calculating the spectrum of a vibronic system occurring in molecules or impurities in insulators

An iteration scheme which makes use of a numerical renormalization group approach is used to calculate the spectrum of vibronic levels. This spectrum resulted from dynamic effects occurring in certain molecules or impurities in insulators.The Hamiltonian of these systems is expressed in the matrix form, using products of suitable electron-phonon states as a basis. In applying this method to multimode electron-phonon systems, phonon modes are coupled in a chain-like fashion. Then a finite chain calculation in terms of Hubbard X-operators is explored by setting up the vibronic Hamiltonian.Calculations are based on Lanczos algorithm, in which only the nearest neighbor matrix elements along the chain need to be taken into account. The iterative scheme is then applied to a two-level electronic system coupled to phonons. A single-particle Green's function corresponding to a two-level system is applied to calculate the spectral density of states, which, coupled to single mode is carried out. The strength of lines in density of states is affected by the coupling constant as well as the temperature dependence of some measurable quantities.     

石墨烯的声子热学性质研究

声子是石墨烯导热过程中的主要载体,而声子的弛豫时间又是其中最基本、最重要的物理量.本文采用简正模式分解法研究了石墨烯声子的弛豫时间,并且借此分析了不同声子在导热过程中的贡献.该方法通过平衡分子动力学模拟实现,首先通过模拟得到单个声子的能量自相关函数衰减曲线,并进一步采用拟合和积分两种方法得到单个声子的弛豫时间.然后,研究了弛豫时间与波矢、频率和温度的关系.结果发现,弛豫时间随波矢的变化与对应的色散关系相近,弛豫时间与频率和温度的关系符合理论模型:1/τ=νnTm,其中声学支的n为1.56,而光学支结果较为发散,指数m对于不同声子支结果略有不同.最后,还研究了不同频率声子对导热的贡献,发现低频声子在态密度上占有绝对优势,并且其弛豫时间整体高于高频声子,所以低频声子对导热的贡献占据主导地位.     

Superradiance regime of laser cooling in extended solids

The kinetics of the extended crystal doped by rare-earth ions in the regime of anti-Stokes laser cooling has been considered taking into account the collective radiation effects. The system of Markovian equations for impurities and pseudolocal phonons has been obtained. As would be expected, the collective radiation effects cause an acceleration in relaxation depletion of the phonon mode and, therefore, an increase in crystal cooling efficiency. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Phonons in mixed valence systems

The effect of valence changes due to f?d electronic transitions on phonons is studied. A large electronic density of states at the Fermi-energy in the intermediate valence state causes significant softening of the longitudinal acoustic and optic phonons and large phonon line-widths. These phonon renormalizations due to strong electron-lattice coupling are largest for phonon wavevectors q along the (111)-direction and maximal at the zone-boundary for LO modes and nearly half-way towards the zone-boundary in the case of LA mode. The results agree well with recent neutron scattering data on Sm_0.75Y_0.25S.     

Phonons and the electronic gap in FeSi

The partial phonon densities of states of iron atoms in the intermetallic compound FeSi have been measured in the temperature range 46–297 K using nuclear resonant inelastic scattering of synchrotron radiation. A significant phonon softening with increasing temperature has been established. The greatest phonon softening for iron atoms is shown to occur in the region of long-wavelength acoustic phonons, for the acoustic branches near the boundary of the Brillouin zone, and for the low-lying weakly dispersive optical branches. The results obtained are analyzed in terms of the views that relate the change in the phonon density of states of iron atoms to the temperature evolution of the electronic density of state for the compound.     

Quantum dynamics of electric-dipole coupled defect centers in solids

We investigate the quantum dynamics of two defect centers in solids,which are coupled by vacuum-induced dipole-dipole interactions.When the interaction between defects and phonons is taken into account,the two coupled electron-phonon systems make up two equivalent multilevel atoms.By making Born-Markov and rotating wave approximations,we derive a master equation describing the dynamics of the coupled multilevel atoms.The results indicate the concepts of subradiant and superradiant states can be applied to these systems and the population transfer process presents different behaviors from those of the two dipolar-coupled two-level atoms due to the participation of phonons.     

Relaxation and storage of multiparticle entangled states of atoms in a collective thermostat

Multiparticle entangled states that are the generalization of the W class states and can be reduced to Dicke states are considered. The master equation describing the collective decay of atoms in a cavity is derived for the Tavis-Cummings model in the dispersive limit. The entangled states of atoms that are retained in the process of collective decay are found. The scheme for recording and storage of these states in a collective thermostat is presented.     

On the spin-phonon interaction in anharmonic crystals

In this paper, a theory is developed for examining the influence of the spin-phonon interaction on the phonon dynamics in anharmonic crystals. In contrast to a harmonic approximation such an approach allows for comparing the role of the direct interaction between lattice vibrations with that of the indirect interaction via spins in the propagation and attenuation of sound as well as in the behaviour of thermodynamic quantities. Explicit expressions are derived for the phonon self-energy using successively higher approximations obtained from a cumulant expansion of the density of interparticle distances. It is shown that even in the harmonic approximation the two-spin correlation function and the four-spin correlation function enter into the expression of the generalized dynamical matrix in deviation from previous results. The modification of this harmonic dynamical matrix due to the renormalization of the harmonic phonons and due to phonon-phonon scattering processes is given employing a “weak coupling” approximation between the localized spins and the interparticle-distance density of the crystal. The resemblance of the present approach to an earlier microscopic treatment of electronic contributions to phonon dynamics in anharmonic crystals is pointed out.     

Quantum entanglement via optical control of atom-atom interactions

Two-photon optical transitions combined with long-range dipole-dipole interactions can be used for the coherent manipulation of multiatom collective states. We show that it is possible to induce optical resonances accompanied by the generation of entangled superpositions of such atomic states. Resonances of this kind can be used to implement quantum logic gates using optically excited single atoms (impurities) in the condensed phase.     

基于第一性原理分子动力学的填充方钴矿热输运性质及微观过程的研究

对于重要热电材料之一的填充方钴矿材料,其低热导率的成因存在两种观点:1)填充原子的局域振动引起共振散射降低热导率;2)填充原子的引入加强了三声子倒逆过程来降低热导率.本文采用含有限温度效应的第一性原理分子动力学方法模拟了YbFe_4Sb_(12)的动力学过程,并通过温度相关有效势场方法得到了充分包含非线性作用的等效非谐力常数,研究了微扰近似下的声子输运性质.结果显示,在填充原子振动全部参与三声子倒逆散射过程的近似下,相比于纯方钴矿体系,声子寿命大幅地降低,填充原子的振动是热阻的重要来源.但即便如此,理论计算结果与实验的晶格热导率之间仍存在明显偏离.不同填充原子振动之间的较弱关联性质也揭示其明显偏离经典的声子图像,表现为一种强烈的局域特征振动模式,并以此散射其他晶格声子,因而对热阻的贡献也超出了传统三声子的理论框架.通过将填充原子Yb振动模式的寿命进行共振散射形式的修正,可以使晶格热导率与实验结果符合较好.以上结果表明,YbFe_4Sb_(12)的低晶格热导率是由声子间相互作用以及具有局域振动特征的共振散射两方面因素导致.     

Phonon or electron friction of a quantum heavy particle

Summary In this paper we analyse, with the path integral method, the diffusion of a quantum heavy particle moving in a strongly corrugated periodic potential both in the case when the particle is interacting with a thermal bath of phonons or of electrons. In the first case, the integration over the phonon degrees of freedom is performed exactly and in the large mass limit of the heavy particle it gives rise to an ohmic effective action which includes a nonlocal self-interacting term whose strength is the classical friction coefficient. In the second case, the integration over the electronic degrees of freedom is more difficult; we are able to derive an approximate effective action for the heavy particle in two different limiting cases: i) arbitrary large coupling between heavy particle and electrons and linear dissipation; ii) weak coupling and nonlinear dissipation. In i) we obtain an effective action for the particle equal to that found for the phonons but with a friction coefficient given by that of a classical heavy particle in a fermionic bath. In ii) we obtain a nonlinear, but still ohmic, dissipative term. Using an instanton approach we evaluate the mobility (and the diffusion coefficient) of the particle, whose temperature dependence shows a crossover from diffusive to localized behaviour at a critical value of the friction. Finally we discuss whether the electronic and phononic frictions can reach such a critical value. To speed up publication, the authors have agreed not to receive proofs which have been supervised by the Scientific Committee.     

Strong interaction of correlated electrons with phonons: Exchange of phonon clouds by polarons

The interaction of strongly correlated electrons with phonons in the framework of the Hubbard-Holstein model is investigated. The electron-phonon interaction is considered to be strong and is an important parameter of the model, in addition to the Coulomb repulsion of electrons and the band filling. This interaction with nondispersive optical phonons is transformed to the problem of mobile polarons using the canonical transformation of Lang and Firsov. We discuss the case where the on-site Coulomb repulsion is exactly canceled by the phonon-mediated attractive interaction. It is suggested that polarons exchanging phonon clouds can lead to polaron pairing and superconductivity. The fact that the frequency of the collective mode of phonon clouds is larger than the bare frequency then determines the superconducting transition temperature.