Interaction of coherent phonons with defects and elementary excitations

Abstract

We present an overview of the feasibility of using coherent phonon spectroscopy to study interaction dynamics of excited lattice vibrations with their environments. By exploiting the features of coherent phonons with a pump-probe technique, one can study lattice motions in a sub-picosecond time range. The dephasing properties tell us not only about interaction dynamics with carriers (electrons and holes) or thermal phonons but also about point defects in crystals. Modulations of the coherent phonon amplitude by more than two modes are closely related to phonon-carrier or phonon-phonon interferences. Related to this phenomenon, formation of coherent phonons at higher harmonics gives direct evidence for phonon-phonon couplings. A combined study of coherent phonons and ultrafast carrier response can be useful for understanding phonon-carrier interaction dynamics. For metals like zinc, nonequilibrium electrons may dominate the dynamics of both relaxation and generation of coherent phonons. The frequency chirp of coherent phonons can be a direct measure of how and when phonon-phonon and phonon-carrier couplings occur. Carbon nanotubes show some complicated behavior due to the existence of many modes with different symmetries, resulting in superposition or interference. To illustrate one of the most interesting applications, the selective excitation of specific phonon modes through the use of a pulse train technique is shown.