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Ng RC, El Sachat A, Cespedes F, Poblet M, Madiot G, Jaramillo-Fernandez J, Florez O, Xiao P, Sledzinska M, Sotomayor-Torres CM, Chavez-Angel E. Excitation and detection of acoustic phonons in nanoscale systems. NANOSCALE 2022; 14:13428-13451. [PMID: 36082529 PMCID: PMC9520674 DOI: 10.1039/d2nr04100f] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 08/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Phonons play a key role in the physical properties of materials, and have long been a topic of study in physics. While the effects of phonons had historically been considered to be a hindrance, modern research has shown that phonons can be exploited due to their ability to couple to other excitations and consequently affect the thermal, dielectric, and electronic properties of solid state systems, greatly motivating the engineering of phononic structures. Advances in nanofabrication have allowed for structuring and phonon confinement even down to the nanoscale, drastically changing material properties. Despite developments in fabricating such nanoscale devices, the proper manipulation and characterization of phonons continues to be challenging. However, a fundamental understanding of these processes could enable the realization of key applications in diverse fields such as topological phononics, information technologies, sensing, and quantum electrodynamics, especially when integrated with existing electronic and photonic devices. Here, we highlight seven of the available methods for the excitation and detection of acoustic phonons and vibrations in solid materials, as well as advantages, disadvantages, and additional considerations related to their application. We then provide perspectives towards open challenges in nanophononics and how the additional understanding granted by these techniques could serve to enable the next generation of phononic technological applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryan C Ng
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
| | | | - Francisco Cespedes
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
- Departamento de Física, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Martin Poblet
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Guilhem Madiot
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Juliana Jaramillo-Fernandez
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Omar Florez
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
- Departamento de Física, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Peng Xiao
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
- Departamento de Física, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marianna Sledzinska
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Clivia M Sotomayor-Torres
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
- ICREA, Passeig Lluis Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Emigdio Chavez-Angel
- Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain.
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Liao B, Maznev AA, Nelson KA, Chen G. Photo-excited charge carriers suppress sub-terahertz phonon mode in silicon at room temperature. Nat Commun 2016; 7:13174. [PMID: 27731406 PMCID: PMC5064017 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 09/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
There is a growing interest in the mode-by-mode understanding of electron and phonon transport for improving energy conversion technologies, such as thermoelectrics and photovoltaics. Whereas remarkable progress has been made in probing phonon-phonon interactions, it has been a challenge to directly measure electron-phonon interactions at the single-mode level, especially their effect on phonon transport above cryogenic temperatures. Here we use three-pulse photoacoustic spectroscopy to investigate the damping of a single sub-terahertz coherent phonon mode by free charge carriers in silicon at room temperature. Building on conventional pump-probe photoacoustic spectroscopy, we introduce an additional laser pulse to optically generate charge carriers, and carefully design temporal sequence of the three pulses to unambiguously quantify the scattering rate of a single-phonon mode due to the electron-phonon interaction. Our results confirm predictions from first-principles simulations and indicate the importance of the often-neglected effect of electron-phonon interaction on phonon transport in doped semiconductors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bolin Liao
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - A. A. Maznev
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Keith A. Nelson
- Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Gang Chen
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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