Applications to Solid Surfaces

A number of solid compounds have been examined with this time-domain method since the first report of coherent phonons in GaAs [10]. Coherent phonons were created at the metal/semiconductor interface of a GaP photodiode [29] and stacked GaInP/GaAs/GalnP layers [30]. Cesium-deposited [31-33] and potassium-deposited [34] Pt surfaces were extensively studied. Manipulation of vibrational coherence was further demonstrated on Cs/Pt using pump pulse trains [35-37]. Magnetic properties were studied on Gd films [38, 39]. 

The most intense 826-cm band is broader than the other bands. The broadened band suggests a frequency distribution in the observed portion of the surface. Indeed, the symmetric peak in the imaginary part of the spectrum is fitted with a Gaussian function rather than with a Lorenz function. The bandwidth was estimated to be 56 cm by considering the instrumental resolution, 15 cm in this particular spectrum. This number is larger than the intrinsic bandwidth of the bulk modes [50]. 

Lanz and Com [51] proposed a 20-nm thick space charge layer on the Ti02 surface. When the fourth-order response with our TMA-covered surface is generated in the space charge layer, the broad width of the 826-cm band is understood as a depth-dependent wavenumber of the lattice vibration. 

Bulk phonon modes are absent in wave numbers near 357 cm , the center-frequency of the second band. According to electron energy loss studies done in a vacuum [52, 53], TMA-free TiO2(110) surfaces exhibit surface optical phonons at 370-353 cm . The 357-cm band is related to the surface optical phonons. 

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