Phonon density

The system of phonons can thus be regarded as forming a gas of particles, called phonon gas. At low temperatures, the number of excited phonons is small and the interaction between the phonons is small due to the small density of particles in the gas. This low density phonon gas can be compared to an ideal gas in thermodynamics. The system of noninteracting phonons can be treated in the harmonic approximation. At higher temperatures, the number of phonons in the gas increases according to (2.126) and the interaction between the phonons becomes more important, a situation which can be compared with a real gas. Increasing interaction between the phonons means, of course, increasing anharmonicity. 

In general, the phonon density of states g(cn), doi is a complicated fimction which can be directly measured from experiments, or can be computed from the results from computer simulations of a crystal. The explicit analytic expression of g(oi) for the Debye model is a consequence of the two assumptions that were made above for the frequency and velocity of the elastic waves. An even simpler assumption about g(oi) leads to the Einstein model, which first showed how quantum effects lead to deviations from the classical equipartition result as seen experimentally. In the Einstein model, one assumes that only one level at frequency oig is appreciably populated by phonons so that g(oi) = 5(oi-cog) and, for each of the Einstein modes. is... 

In this chapter, the foundations of equilibrium statistical mechanics are introduced and applied to ideal and weakly interacting systems. The coimection between statistical mechanics and thennodynamics is made by introducing ensemble methods. The role of mechanics, both quantum and classical, is described. In particular, the concept and use of the density of states is utilized. Applications are made to ideal quantum and classical gases, ideal gas of diatomic molecules, photons and the black body radiation, phonons in a hannonic solid, conduction electrons in metals and the Bose—Einstein condensation. Introductory aspects of the density... 

Our intention is to give a brief survey of advanced theoretical methods used to detennine the electronic and geometric stmcture of solids and surfaces. The electronic stmcture encompasses the energies and wavefunctions (and other properties derived from them) of the electronic states in solids, while the geometric stmcture refers to the equilibrium atomic positions. Quantities that can be derived from the electronic stmcture calculations include the electronic (electron energies, charge densities), vibrational (phonon spectra), stmctiiral (lattice constants, equilibrium stmctiires), mechanical (bulk moduli, elastic constants) and optical (absorption, transmission) properties of crystals. We will also report on teclmiques used to study solid surfaces, with particular examples drawn from chemisorption on transition metal surfaces. 

There are many ways of increasing tlie equilibrium carrier population of a semiconductor. Most often tliis is done by generating electron-hole pairs as, for instance, in tlie process of absorjition of a photon witli h E. Under reasonable levels of illumination and doping, tlie generation of electron-hole pairs affects primarily the minority carrier density. However, tlie excess population of minority carriers is not stable it gradually disappears tlirough a variety of recombination processes in which an electron in tlie CB fills a hole in a VB. The excess energy E is released as a photon or phonons. The foniier case corresponds to a radiative recombination process, tlie latter to a non-radiative one. The radiative processes only rarely involve direct recombination across tlie gap. Usually, tliis type of process is assisted by shallow defects (impurities). Non-radiative recombination involves a defect-related deep level at which a carrier is trapped first, and a second transition is needed to complete tlie process. 

In rare gas crystals [77] and liquids [78], diatomic molecule vibrational and vibronic relaxation have been studied. In crystals, VER occurs by multiphonon emission. Everything else held constant, the VER rate should decrease exponentially with the number of emitted phonons (exponential gap law) [79, 80] The number of emitted phonons scales as, and should be close to, the ratio O/mQ, where is the Debye frequency. A possible complication is the perturbation of the local phonon density of states by the diatomic molecule guest [77]. 

Iditional importance is that the vibrational modes are dependent upon the reciprocal e vector k. As with calculations of the electronic structure of periodic lattices these cal-ions are usually performed by selecting a suitable set of points from within the Brillouin. For periodic solids it is necessary to take this periodicity into account the effect on the id-derivative matrix is that each element x] needs to be multiplied by the phase factor k-r y). A phonon dispersion curve indicates how the phonon frequencies vary over tlie luin zone, an example being shown in Figure 5.37. The phonon density of states is ariation in the number of frequencies as a function of frequency. A purely transverse ition is one where the displacement of the atoms is perpendicular to the direction of on of the wave in a pmely longitudinal vibration tlie atomic displacements are in the ition of the wave motion. Such motions can be observed in simple systems (e.g. those contain just one or two atoms per unit cell) but for general three-dimensional lattices of the vibrations are a mixture of transverse and longitudinal motions, the exceptions... 

Finally, it can be shown from dre quantum dreoiy of vibrational energy in dre solid state drat, at temperatures above dre Debye temperature 0d, dre density of phonons, p, is inversely related to 6 according to dre equation... 

Graphite exhibits strong second-order Raman-active features. These features are expected and observed in carbon tubules, as well. Momentum and energy conservation, and the phonon density of states determine, to a large extent, the second-order spectra. By conservation of energy hut = huty + hbi2, where bi and ill) (/ = 1,2) are, respectively, the frequencies of the incoming photon and those of the simultaneously excited normal modes. There is also a crystal momentum selection rule hV. = -I- q, where k and q/... 

In order to study the vibrational properties of a single Au adatom on Cu faces, one adatom was placed on each face of the slab. Simulations were performed in the range of 300-1000"K to deduce the temperature dependence of the various quantities. The value of the lattice constant was adjusted, at each temperature, so as to result in zero pressure for the bulk system, while the atomic MSB s were determined on a layer by layer basis from equilibrium averages of the atomic density profiles. Furthermore, the phonon DOS of Au adatom was obtained from the Fourier transform of the velocity autocorrelation function. ... 

Figure . Phonon density of states of Au adatom on Cu (100) at 300°K solid line along the [1 1 0] direction, dashed line along the [110] direction, thick dashed line normal to the surface.

In delocalized bands, the charge transport is limited by the scattering of the carriers by lattice vibrations (phonons). Therefore, an increase in the temperature, which induces an increase in the density of phonons, leads to a decrease in the mobility. 

The heat conductivity in solids occurs via phonons. This conductivity is ideal in single crystals and is considerably reduced in porous solids, by one to two orders of magnitude. Therefore thermal insulation materials are built up of small particles which should touch each other at only a few points. This effect is of course enhanced by a low density of the material. 

In this equation v is a phonon frequency, such that hv is approximately k, with the Debye characteristic temperature of the metal. The quantity p is the product of the density of electrons in energy at the Fermi surface, N(0), and the electron-phonon interaction energy, V. 

The density of states (DOS) of lattice phonons has been calculated by lattice dynamical methods [111]. The vibrational DOS of orthorhombic Ss up to about 500 cm has been determined by neutron scattering [121] and calculated by MD simulations of a flexible molecule model [118,122]. 

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