Propagation of THz acoustic wave packets in GaN at room temperature

Maznev, A. A.; Hung, T.-C.; Yao, Y.-T.; Chou, T.-H.; Gandhi, J. S.; Lindsay, Lucas R.; Shin, H. D.; Stokes, D. W.; Forrest, R. L.; Bensaoula, A.; Sun, C.-K.; Nelson, K. A.

doi:10.1063/1.5008852

Propagation of THz acoustic wave packets in GaN at room temperature

Journal Article · Sun Feb 04 23:00:00 EST 2018 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5008852· OSTI ID:1429193

Maznev, A. A. ^[1]; Hung, T.-C. ^[2]; Yao, Y.-T. ^[2]; Chou, T.-H. ^[2]; Gandhi, J. S. ^[3]; ^[4]; Shin, H. D. ^[1]; Stokes, D. W. ^[3]; Forrest, R. L. ^[3]; Bensaoula, A. ^[3]; Sun, C.-K. ^[2]; Nelson, K. A. ^[1]

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
National Taiwan Univ., Taipei (Taiwan)
Univ. of Houston, TX (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

We use femtosecond laser pulses to generate coherent longitudinal acoustic phonons at frequencies of 1–1.4 THz and study their propagation in GaN-based structures at room temperature. Two InGaN-GaN multiple-quantum-well (MQW) structures separated by a 2.3 μm-thick GaN spacer are used to simultaneously generate phonon wave packets with a central frequency determined by the period of the MQW and detect them after passing through the spacer. The measurements provide lower bounds for phonon lifetimes in GaN, which are still significantly lower than those from first principles predictions. The material Q-factor at 1 THz is found to be at least as high as 900. The measurements also demonstrate a partial specular reflection from the free surface of GaN at 1.4 THz. This work shows the potential of laser-based methods for THz range phonon spectroscopy and the promise for extending the viable frequency range of GaN-based acousto-electronic devices.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1429193

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1419701

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 112; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (1)

Long mean free paths of room-temperature THz acoustic phonons in a high thermal conductivity material Chou, Ting-Han; Lindsay, Lucas; Maznev, Alexei A. Physical Review B, Vol. 100, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.100.094302	journal	September 2019