No Arabic abstract
A complete set of all optical phonon modes predicted by symmetry for bixbyite structure indium oxide is reported here from a combination of far-infrared and infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry, as well as first principle calculations. Dielectric function spectra measured on high quality, marginally electrically conductive melt grown single bulk crystals are obtained on a wavelength-by-wavelength (a.k.a. point-by-point) basis and by numerical reduction of a subtle free charge carrier Drude model contribution. A four-parameter semi-quantum model is applied to determine all sixteen pairs of infrared-active transverse and longitudinal optical phonon modes, including the high-frequency dielectric constant, $varepsilon_{infty}=4.05pm 0.05$. The Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation then gives access to the static dielectric constant, $varepsilon_{mathrm{DC}}=10.55pm 0.07$. All experimental results are in excellent agreement with our density functional theory calculations and with previously reported values, where existent. We also perform optical Hall effect measurements and determine for the unintentionally doped $n$-type sample a free electron density of $n=(2.81 pm 0.01)times 10^{17}$~cm$^{-3}$, mobility of $mu=(112 pm 3)$~cm$^{2}$/(Vs), and an effective mass parameter of $(0.208pm0.006)m_e$. Density and mobility parameters compare very well with results of electrical Hall effect measurements. Our effective mass parameter, which is measured independently of any other experimental technique, represents the bottom curvature of the $Gamma$ point in In$_2$O$_3$ in agreement with previous extrapolations. We use terahertz spectroscopic ellipsometry to measure the quasi-static response of In$_2$O$_3$, and our model validates the static dielectric constant obtained from the Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation.
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the surface vibrational modes of the topological insulator (TI) Bi$_2$Se$_3$ with particular emphasis on the low-energy region below 10 meV that has been difficult to resolve experimentally. By applying inelastic helium atom scattering (HAS), the entire phonon dispersion was determined and compared with density functional perturbation theory (DFPT) calculations. The intensity of the phonon modes is dominated by a strong Rayleigh mode, in contrast to previous experimental works. Moreover, also at variance with recent reports, no Kohn-anomaly is observed. These observations are in excellent agreement with DFPT calculations. Besides these results, the experimental data reveal$-$via bound-state resonance enhancement$-$two additional dispersion curves in the gap below the Rayleigh mode. They are possibly associated with an excitation of a surface electron density superstructure that we observe in HAS diffraction patterns. The electron-phonon coupling paramenter $lambda$ = 0.23 derived from our temperature dependent Debye-Waller measurements compares well with values determined by angular resolved photoemission or Landau level spectroscopy. Our work opens up a new perspective for THz measurements on 2D materials as well as the investigation of subtle details (band bending, the presence of quantum well states) with respect to the electron-phonon coupling.
We investigate exemplary the longitudinal optical (LO) mode order in compounds with a plasmon or plasmon-like phonon mode and additional phonon modes. When the oscillator strength of the plasmon or plasmon-like mode is gradually increased, a reordering of the modes takes place. Since it is not possible in crystals with orthorhombic or higher symmetry that a LO mode crosses a transverse optical (TO) modes position, this reordering takes place via mode hybridization. During this mode hybridization, the plasmon or plasmon-like LO mode gradually becomes the originally higher situated LO mode while the latter morphs into the former. As a consequence, an inner (LO-TO) and an outer (TO-LO) mode pair is formed. This process continues until the LO oscillator strength is so high that all other phonons are inverted and form LO-TO pairs within the outer TO-LO mode pair of the plasmon or plasmon-like mode. These insights can be readily transferred to other semiconductors or many mode materials with reststrahlen bands and allow simple mode assignments. These mode assignments will help to understand the nature of surface modes of structured layers of these materials for application of surface plasmon polariton and surface phonon polaritons based metamaterials.
We report a single-crystal neutron diffraction and inelastic neutron scattering study on the spin 1/2 cuprate Cu$_3$Bi(SeO$_3$)$_2$O$_2$Cl, complemented by dielectric and electric polarization measurements. The study clarifies a number of open issues concerning this complex material, whose frustrated interactions on a kagome-like lattice, combined with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions, are expected to stabilize an exotic canted antiferromagnetic order. In particular, we determine the nature of the structural transition occurring at 115 K, the magnetic structure below 25 K resolved in the updated space group, and the microscopic ingredients at the origin of this magnetic arrangement. This was achieved by an analysis of the measured gapped spin waves, which signifies the need of an unexpected and significant anisotropic exchange beyond the proposed Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions. Finally, we discuss the mutliferroic properties of this material with respect to the space group symmetries.
I use first principles calculations to investigate the thermal conductivity of $beta$-In$_2$O$_3$ and compare the results with that of $alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$, $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$, and KTaO$_3$. The calculated thermal conductivity of $beta$-In$_2$O$_3$ agrees well with the experimental data obtain recently, which found that the low-temperature thermal conductivity in this material can reach values above 1000 W/mK. I find that the calculated thermal conductivity of $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ is larger than that of $beta$-In$_2$O$_3$ at all temperatures, which implies that $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ should also exhibit high values of thermal conductivity at low temperatures. The thermal conductivity of KTaO$_3$ calculated ignoring the temperature-dependent phonon softening of low-frequency modes give high-temperature values similar that of $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$. However, the calculated thermal conductivity of KTaO$_3$ does not increase as steeply as that of the binary compounds at low temperatures, which results in KTaO$_3$ having the lowest low-temperature thermal conductivity despite having acoustic phonon velocities larger than that of $beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ and $beta$-In$_2$O$_3$. I attribute this to the fact that the acoustic phonon velocities at low frequencies in KTaO$_3$ is less uniformly distributed because its acoustic phonon branches are more dispersive compared to the binary oxides, which causes enhanced momentum loss even during the normal phonon-phonon scattering processes. I also calculate thermal diffusivity using the theoretically obtained thermal conductivity and heat capacity and find that all four materials exhibit the expected $T^{-1}$ behavior at high temperatures. Additionally, the calculated ratio of the average phonon scattering time to Planckian time is larger than the lower bound of 1 that has been observed empirically in numerous other materials.
We determine the anisotropic dielectric functions of rhombohedral $alpha$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ by far-infrared and infrared generalized spectroscopic ellipsometry and derive all transverse optical and longitudinal optical phonon mode frequencies and broadening parameters. We also determine the high frequency and static dielectric constants. We perform density functional theory computations and determine the phonon dispersion for all branches in the Brillouin zone, and we derive all phonon mode parameters at the Brillouin zone center including Raman-active, infrared-active, and silent modes. Excellent agreement is obtained between our experimental and computation results as well as among all previously reported partial information from experiment and theory. We also compute the same information for $alpha$-Al$_2$O$_3$, the binary parent compound for the emerging alloy of $alpha$-(Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_2$O$_3$, and use results from previous investigations [Schubert, Tiwald, and Herzinger, Phys. Rev. B 61, 8187 (2000)] to compare all properties among the two isostructural compounds. From both experimental and theoretical investigations we compute the frequency shifts of all modes between the two compounds. Additionally, we calculate overlap parameters between phonon mode eigenvectors and discuss the possible evolution of all phonon modes into the ternary alloy system and whether modes may form single mode or more complex mode behaviors.