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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 847 records · Page 47
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2013

Experimental demonstration of mode-selective phonon excitation of 6H-SiC by a mid-infrared laser with anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy

Mode-selective phonon excitation by a mid-infrared laser (MIR-FEL) is demonstrated via anti-Stokes Raman scattering measurements of 6H-silicon carbide (SiC). Irradiation of SiC with MIR-FEL and a Nd-YAG laser at 14 K produced a peak where the Raman shift corresponds to a photon energy of 119 meV (10.4 μm). This phenomenon is induced by mode-selective phonon excitation through the irradiation of MIR-FEL, whose photon energy corresponds to the photon-absorption of a particular phonon mode.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Spin-phonon coupling in Gd(Co{sub 1/2}Mn{sub 1/2})O{sub 3} perovskite

We have investigated the temperature-dependent Raman-active phonons and the magnetic properties of Gd(Co{sub 1/2}Mn{sub 1/2})O{sub 3} perovskite ceramics in the temperature range from 40 K to 300 K. The samples crystallized in an orthorhombic distorted simple perovskite, whose symmetry belongs to the Pnma space group. The data reveal spin-phonon coupling near the ferromagnetic transition occurring at around 120 K. The correlation of the Raman and magnetization data suggests that the structural order influences the magnitude of the spin-phonon coupling.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Phonon-limited low-field mobility in silicon: Quantum transport vs. linearized Boltzmann Transport Equation

We propose to check and validate the approximations made in dissipative quantum transport (QT) simulations solved in the Non-equilibrium Green's Function formalism by comparing them with the exact solution of the linearized Boltzmann Transport Equation (LB) in the stationary regime. For that purpose, we calculate the phonon-limited electron and hole mobility in bulk Si and ultra-scaled Si nanowires for different crystal orientations 〈100〉, 〈110〉, and 〈111〉. In both QT and LB simulations, we use the same sp{sup 3}d{sup 5}s{sup *} tight-binding model to describe the electron/hole properties and the same valence-force-field approach to account for the phonon properties. It is found that the QT simplifications work well for electrons, but are less accurate for holes, where a renormalization of the phonon scattering strength is proved useful to improve the results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2013

The graphene phonon dispersion with C{sup 12} and C{sup 13} isotopes

Using very uniform large scale chemical vapor deposition grown graphene transferred onto silicon, we were able to identify 15 distinct Raman lines associated with graphene monolayers. This was possible thanks to a combination of different carbon isotopes and different Raman laser energies and extensive averaging without increasing the laser power. This allowed us to obtain a detailed experimental phonon dispersion relation for many points in the Brillouin zone. We further identified a D+D' peak corresponding to a double phonon process involving both an inter- and intra-valley phonon. In order to both eliminate substrate effects and to probe large areas, we undertook to study Raman scattering for large scale chemical vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene using two different isotopes (C12 and C13) so that we can effectively exclude and subtract the substrate contributions, since a heavier mass downshifts only the vibrational properties, while keeping all other properties the same.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Phonon lasing in transport through double quantum dots

An optical phonon laser is proposed using a double quantum dot (DQD) fabricated on semiconductor substrates. The DQD couples to two modes of LO phonons which work as a natural cavity. The pumping is realized by the electric current under a finite bias. We show that lasing takes place when the tunneling rate to external leads is much larger than the decay rate of phonons.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Optical phonon modes in Al{sub 1−x}Sc{sub x}N

Optical phonons are measured to probe the origins of the reported anomalously high piezoelectric response in aluminum scandium nitride (Al{sub 1−x}Sc{sub x}N). Epitaxial layers with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.16 deposited on sapphire(0001) exhibit a refractive index below the band gap, which increases from 2.03 for x = 0 to 2.16 for x = 0.16, corresponding to a dielectric constant ε{sub ∞} = 4.15 + 3.2x. Raman scattering shows that zone-center E{sub 2}(H) and A{sub 1}(TO) phonon modes shift to lower frequencies with increasing x, following linear relationships: ω(E{sub 2}(H)) = 658–233x (cm{sup −1}) and ω(A{sub 1}(TO)) = 612–159x (cm{sup −1}). Similarly, zone-center E{sub 1}(TO) and A{sub 1}(LO) phonon mode frequencies obtained from specular polarized infrared reflectance measurements red-shift to ω(E{sub 1}(TO)) = 681–209x (cm{sup −1}) and ω(A{sub 1}(LO)) = 868–306x (cm{sup −1}). The measured bond angle decreases linearly from 108.2° to 106.0°, while the length of the two metal-nitrogen bonds increase by 3.2% and 2.6%, as x increases from 0 to 0.16. This is associated with a 3%–8% increase in the Born effective charge and a simultaneous 6% decrease in the covalent metal-N bond strength, as determined from the measured vibrational frequencies described with a Valence-Coulomb-Force-Field model. The overall results indicate that bonding in Al-rich Al{sub 1−x}Sc{sub x}N qualitatively follows the trends expected from mixing wurtzite AlN with metastable hexagonal ScN. However, extrapolation suggests non-linear composition dependencies in bond angle, length, and character for x ≥ 0.2, leading to a structural instability that may be responsible for the reported steep increase in the piezoelectric response.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Micro-Raman study on the softening and stiffening of phonons in rutile titanium dioxide film: Competing effects of structural defects, crystallite size, and lattice strain

Softening and stiffening of phonons in rutile titanium dioxide films are investigated by in situ micro-Raman studies during energetic ion irradiation. The in situ study minimized other possible mechanisms of phonon dynamics. Initial softening and broadening of Raman shift are attributed to the phonon confinement by structural defects and loss of stoichiometry. The stiffening of A{sub 1g} mode is ascribed to large distortion of TiO{sub 6} octahedra under the influence of lattice strain in the (110) plane, which gives rise to lengthening of equatorial Ti-O bond and shortening of apical Ti-O bond. The shortening of apical Ti-O bond induces stiffening of A{sub 1g} mode in the framework of the bond-order-length-strength correlation mechanism.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Direct evaluation of ballistic phonon transport in a multi-walled carbon nanotube

Phonon confinement and in situ thermal conductance measurements in an individual multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) are reported. Focused ion beam (FIB) irradiation was used to successively shorten a 4.8 μm long MWNT, eventually yielding a 0.3 μm long MWNT. After the first FIB irradiation, a 41% reduction in conductance was achieved, compared with that of the pristine MWNT. This was because the contributions from phonons with long free paths were excluded by scattering at FIB-induced defects. Phonon transport in linked multiple-length nanotubes was also investigated.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phonon dispersion and thermal conductivity of nanocrystal superlattices using three-dimensional atomistic models

A computational study of thermal conductivity and phonon dispersion of gold nanocrystal superlattices is presented. Phonon dispersion curves, reported here for the first time from combined molecular dynamics and lattice dynamics calculations, show multiple phononic band gaps and consist of many more dispersion branches than simple atomic crystals. Fully atomistic three dimensional molecular dynamics calculations of thermal conductivity using the Green Kubo method are also performed for the first time on these materials. Thermal conductivity is observed to increase for increasing nanocrystal core size and decrease for increasing surface ligand density. Our calculations predict values in the range 0.1–1 W/m K that are consistent with reported experimental results.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phonon blocking by two dimensional electron gas in polar CdTe/PbTe heterojunctions

Narrow-gap lead telluride crystal is an important thermoelectric and mid-infrared material in which phonon functionality is a critical issue to be explored. In this Letter, efficient phonon blockage by forming a polar CdTe/PbTe heterojunction is explicitly observed by Raman scattering. The unique phonon screening effect can be interpreted by recent discovery of high-density two dimensional electrons at the polar CdTe/PbTe(111) interface which paves a way for design and fabrication of thermoelectric devices.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Phonon and magnon scattering of Bi{sub 2}Fe{sub 4}O{sub 9} ceramic

We report the phonon structure of Bi{sub 2}Fe{sub 4}O{sub 9} ceramics as synthesized by solid-state reaction route. Rietveld refined X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the formation of single-phase perovskite structure and all the peaks of Bi{sub 2}Fe{sub 4}O{sub 9} perfectly indexed to the orthorhombic (space group Pbam). Raman scattering measurements identifies 12A{sub g}+1B{sub 2g}+1B{sub 3g} Raman active optical phonon modes. Apart from phonon scattering, mode at 470 cm{sup −1} is observed which is due to magnon scattering. The P-E loop infers paraelectric nature of Bi{sub 2}Fe{sub 4}O{sub 9}.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

High temperature phonon dispersion in graphene using classical molecular dynamics

Phonon dispersion and phonon density of states of graphene are calculated using classical molecular dynamics simulations. In this method, the dynamical matrix is constructed based on linear response theory by computing the displacement of atoms during the simulations. The computed phonon dispersions show excellent agreement with experiments. The simulations are done in both NVT and NPT ensembles at 300 K and found that the LO/TO modes are getting hardened at the Γ point. The NPT ensemble simulations capture the anharmonicity of the crystal accurately and the hardening of LO/TO modes is more pronounced. We also found that at 300 K the C-C bond length reduces below the equilibrium value and the ZA bending mode frequency becomes imaginary close to Γ along K-Γ direction, which indicates instability of the flat 2D graphene sheets.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Evidence of a Love wave bandgap in a quartz substrate coated with a phononic thin layer

This paper presents a numerical and experimental study of Love wave propagation in a micro-fabricated phononic crystal (PC) structure consisting of a 2D, periodically etched silica film deposited on a quartz substrate. The dispersion characteristics of Love waves in such a phononic structure were analyzed with various geometric parameters by using complex band structure calculations. For the experiment, we adopted reactive-ion etching with electron-beam lithography to fabricate a submicrometer phononic structure. The measured results exhibited consistency with the numerical prediction. The results of this study may serve as a basis for developing PC-based Love wave devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Off-axis phonon and photon propagation in porous silicon superlattices studied by Brillouin spectroscopy and optical reflectance

Brillouin light scattering experiments and optical reflectance measurements were performed on a pair of porous silicon-based optical Bragg mirrors which had constituent layer porosity ratios close to unity. For off-axis propagation, the phononic and photonic band structures of the samples were modeled as a series of intersecting linear dispersion curves. Zone-folding was observed for the longitudinal bulk acoustic phonon and the frequency of the probed zone-folded longitudinal phonon was shown to be dependent on the propagation direction as well as the folding order of the mode branch. There was no conclusive evidence of coupling between the transverse and the folded longitudinal modes. Two additional observed Brillouin peaks were attributed to the Rayleigh surface mode and a possible pseudo-surface mode. Both of these modes were dispersive, with the velocity increasing as the wavevector decreased.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Specific heat of twisted bilayer graphene: Engineering phonons by atomic plane rotations

We have studied the phonon specific heat in single-layer, bilayer, and twisted bilayer graphene. The calculations were performed using the Born-von Karman model of lattice dynamics for intralayer atomic interactions and spherically symmetric interatomic potential for interlayer interactions. We found that at temperature T < 15 K, specific heat varies with temperature as T{sup n}, where n = 1 for graphene, n = 1.6 for bilayer graphene, and n = 1.3 for the twisted bilayer graphene. The phonon specific heat reveals an intriguing dependence on the twist angle in bilayer graphene, which is particularly pronounced at low temperature. The results suggest a possibility of phonon engineering of thermal properties of layered materials by twisting the atomic planes.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

In-situ optical transmission electron microscope study of exciton phonon replicas in ZnO nanowires by cathodoluminescence

The cathodoluminescence spectrum of single zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires is measured by in-situ optical Transmission Electron Microscope. The coupling between exciton and longitudinal optical phonon is studied. The band edge emission varies for different excitation spots. This effect is attributed to the exciton propagation along the c axis of the nanowire. Contrary to free exciton emission, the phonon replicas are well confined in ZnO nanowire. They travel along the c axis and emit at the end surface. Bending strain increases the relative intensity of second order phonon replicas when excitons travel along the c-axis.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancing phonon flow through one-dimensional interfaces by impedance matching

We extend concepts from microwave engineering to thermal interfaces and explore the principles of impedance matching in 1D. The extension is based on the generalization of acoustic impedance to nonlinear dispersions using the contact broadening matrix Γ(ω), extracted from the phonon self energy. For a single junction, we find that for coherent and incoherent phonons, the optimal thermal conductance occurs when the matching Γ(ω) equals the Geometric Mean of the contact broadenings. This criterion favors the transmission of both low and high frequency phonons by requiring that (1) the low frequency acoustic impedance of the junction matches that of the two contacts by minimizing the sum of interfacial resistances and (2) the cut-off frequency is near the minimum of the two contacts, thereby reducing the spillage of the states into the tunneling regime. For an ultimately scaled single atom/spring junction, the matching criterion transforms to the arithmetic mean for mass and the harmonic mean for spring constant. The matching can be further improved using a composite graded junction with an exponential varying broadening that functions like a broadband antireflection coating. There is, however, a trade off as the increased length of the interface brings in additional intrinsic sources of scattering.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Indication of Te segregation in laser-irradiated ZnTe observed by in situ coherent-phonon spectroscopy

We irradiate a ZnTe single crystal with 10-fs laser pulses at a repetition rate of 80 MHz and investigate its resulting gradual modification by means of coherent-phonon spectroscopy. We observe the emergence of a phonon mode at about 3.6 THz whose amplitude and lifetime grow monotonously with irradiation time. The speed of this process depends sensitively on the pump-pulse duration. Our observations strongly indicate that the emerging phonon mode arises from a Te phase induced by multiphoton absorption of incident laser pulses. A potential application of our findings is laser-machining of microstructures in the bulk of a ZnTe crystal, a highly relevant electrooptic material.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗