Generation and propagation of THz monochromatic acoustic phonons in gallium arsenide

Anthony J. Kent; Nicola M. Stanton; Rajeev N. Kini; Mohamed Henini

doi:10.1117/12.526765

16 June 2004 Generation and propagation of THz monochromatic acoustic phonons in gallium arsenide

Anthony J. Kent, Nicola M. Stanton, Rajeev N. Kini, Mohamed Henini

Proceedings Volume 5352, Ultrafast Phenomena in Semiconductors and Nanostructure Materials VIII; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.526765
Event: Integrated Optoelectronic Devices 2004, 2004, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We have generated pulsed beams of longitudinal and transverse polarized acoustic phonons by ultra fast optical excitation of gallium arsenide/aluminium arsenide superlattice structures. The phonons propagated ballistically over macroscopic (~ mm) distances at low temperatures and were detected using superconducting bolometers. We used superlattice phonon filters and the frequency-dependent phonon scattering in gallium arsenide to analyse the phonon spectrum. The phonons were found to be monochromatic, with a centre frequency given by υ = c_s/d_SL, where c_sis the phonon speed and d_SL is the superlattice period, and having a spectral line width (full width at half maximum) of less than 50 GHz. We measured a mean free path of 0.8 mm for both the longitudinal and transverse modes, consistent with point defect scattering in the GaAs substrate. Such phonons, with frequencies in the THz range, have potential applications in a number of areas, e.g. acoustic microscopy of solid-state nanostructures.

Citation Download Citation

Anthony J. Kent, Nicola M. Stanton, Rajeev N. Kini, and Mohamed Henini "Generation and propagation of THz monochromatic acoustic phonons in gallium arsenide", Proc. SPIE 5352, Ultrafast Phenomena in Semiconductors and Nanostructure Materials VIII, (16 June 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.526765

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