Phonon mediated photodetector

Quantum-wells and quantum dots and related semiconductor nanostructures have been widely investigated for infrared devices. Here we propose a new general approach to make use of polar optical phonons in quantum-wells for infrared (IR) and terahertz (THz) detection. As the first example, we show the coupling of phonon and intersubband transition leading to Fano resonance in photocurrent spectra. We investigate the phenomenon experimentally in specially designed GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well infrared photodetectors. Finally, we discuss the future research and potentials.     

Phonon diffraction gratings

A two-dimensional diffraction grating for phonons is described. It scatters thermal phonons strongly when their dominant wavelength is equal to the grating's lattice constant. Through measurements of the Kapitza resistance between the silicon crystal carrying the grating and liquid helium, it is shown that the scattering by the grating is predominantly coherent, as expected for phonon diffraction.     

Phonon focusing catastrophes

We present an elegant application of formal catastrope theory to phonon focusing phenomena in crystals. The standard analysis of phonon focusing breaks down near singular directions known as caustics. The theory we present, in addition to being numerically accurate, provides a qualitative picture of caustic surfaces which yields important new insights into the results of phonon propagation experiments. Supporting experimental evidence is also presented.     

Superradiance-Driven Phonon Laser

We propose to enhance the generation of a phonon laser by exploiting optical superradiance. In our scheme, the optomechanical cavity contains a movable membrane, which supports a mechanical mode, and the superradiance cavity can generate the coherent collective light emissions by applying a transverse pump to an ultracold intracavity atomic gas. The superradiant emission turns out to be capable of enhancing the phonon laser performance.This indicates a new way to operate a phonon laser with the assistance of coherent atomic gases trapped in a cavity or lattice potentials.     

High Phonon Frequency Approximation in the Calculation of Phonon Drag Magnetothermopower

At high magnetic fields and low temperatures the phonon drag magnetothermopower is dominated by phonons with energies much greater than k_BT. This fact is used to develop an approximate formula which can be evaluated in a few percent of the time required by the rigorous result. We show that the predominant contribution to the magnetothermopower comes from the transition process in which both the initial Landau level and the final Landau level have the same quantum number n = n'= n_f where nf distinguishes the level nearest to the Fermi energy. A double summation over n and n'can therefore be neglected. In the temperature range of 1.275 K to 5.005 K, all the HPFA results agree with the experimental data and the rigorous theoretical results qualitatively. At T = 2.495 and 2.937 K, the HPFA results arein fair quantitative accordance with the experimental data and the rigorous theoretical results.     

Phonon images of crystals

Using the pair of coupled Boltzmann kinetic equations for 2D electron gas and bulk acoustic phonons we derive the explicit formula for the phonon drag voltage induced by a pulsed phonon beam. A point source producing very short bursts of monoenergetic phonons is considered. The time integrated signal of the phonon drag voltage is calculated numerically for 2D electron gas lying in a {001} plane. For the raster scanned source of phonons the pattern of induced voltage is obtained and compared to the suitable experimental pattern and to the calculated quasimomentum focusing image. For several phonon propagation directions the dependency of induced voltage on the phonon energy is studied and compared with the experimental results. The ratio of the strength of piezo-electric coupling to the deformation potential constant and the localization length of 2D electrons are fitted.     

Phonon focussing in crystals

It is shown that by evaluating the Jacobian of the transformation between the polar angles corresponding to the group velocity vector S and the polar angles of the wave vector k, the phonon magnification factor can be evaluated for any general direction of propagation inside a crystal.     

Phonon echo in L-alanine

Phonon echo signals have been observed in a finely-dispersed crystalline powder of the L-alanine amino acid. Measurements of the relaxation time T ₂ have revealed a phase transition in L-alanine crystals at a temperature of about 170 K. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 2119–2120 (November 1998)     

Phonon Dispersion in Polypyrrole

A study of the normal modes of vibration and their dispersion in polypyrrole (PPY) based on the Urey-Bradley force field is reported. It gives a fuller interpretation of previously reported FTIR spectra. Characterstic features of dispersion curves, such as regions of high density-of-states, repulsion, and character mixing of dispersive modes, are discussed. Predictive values of heat capacity as a function of temperature are reported.     

Phonon dispersion in graphite

We measured the dispersion of the graphite optical phonons in the in-plane Brillouin zone by inelastic x-ray scattering. The longitudinal and transverse optical branches cross along the Gamma-K as well as the Gamma-M direction. The dispersion of the optical phonons was, in general, stronger than expected from the literature. At the K point the transverse optical mode has a minimum and is only approximately 70 cm(-1) higher in frequency than the longitudinal mode. We show that first-principles calculations describe very well the vibrational properties of graphene once the long-range character of the dynamical matrix is taken into account.     

Phonon conductivity of GaAs

A modified Holland's and three-phonon processes having different temperature dependences in the varius temperature ranges have been used to analyse the lattice thermal conductivity of GaAs. A very good agreement with the experimental results has been obtained     

Phonon dispersion in Xe

The predictions of the Mie-Lennard-Jones potentials for phonon dispersion in solid Xe at 10°K and at 77°K are compared with the results of recent measurements. The dynamics of the crystal are described by the first order self-consistent phonon theory for the imaginary part of the one phonon Green's function. The fit obtained is quite poor though we point out that no conclusion can be drawn about the size of three-body forces. We conclude that improved potentials are needed to account for the experimental data.     

Phonon dispersion in NiO

The phonon dispersion relations in NiO have been measured using coherent inelastic neutron diffraction. Good fits to the data were obtained using various shell models. The room temperature phonon density of states was calculated and used to determine the temperature dependence of the lattice specific heat and the Debye temperature.     

Phonon dispersion in graphene

Taking into account the constraints imposed by the lattice symmetry, we calculate the phonon dispersion for graphene with interactions between the first and second nearest neighbors. We show that only five force constants give a very good fitting to the elastic constants and phonon frequencies observed in graphite. The text was submitted by the author in English.