Phonons In Condensed Materials

Papers presented at the International Conference on Phonons in Condensed Materials, held at Bhopal during 20-23 January 2003.

Comprises detailed reviews on a wide range of recent theoretical and experimental methods for studying properties of condensed matter including much material not previously published. Coverage includes advanced techniques in computational solid-state physics, simulation methods, low-temperature physics, high-pressure phase transition and microscopic theories of phonons.

There have been few books devoted to the study of phonons, a major area of condensed matter physics. The Physics of Phonons is a comprehensive theoretical discussion of the most important topics, including some topics not previously presented in book form. Although primarily theoretical in approach, the author refers to experimental results wherever possible, ensuring an ideal book for both experimental and theoretical researchers. The author begins with an introduction to crystal symmetry and continues with a discussion of lattice dynamics in the harmonic approximation, including the traditional phenomenological approach and the more recent ab initio approach, detailed for the first time in this book. A discussion of anharmonicity is followed by the theory of lattice thermal conductivity, presented at a level far beyond that available in any other book. The chapter on phonon interactions is likewise more comprehensive than any similar discussion elsewhere. The sections on phonons in superlattices, impure and mixed crystals, quasicrystals, phonon spectroscopy, Kapitza resistance, and quantum evaporation also contain material appearing in book form for the first time. The book is complemented by numerous diagrams that aid understanding and is comprehensively referenced for further study. With its unprecedented wide coverage of the field, The Physics of Phonons will be indispensable to all postgraduates, advanced undergraduates, and researchers working on condensed matter physics.

The Third International Conference on Phonon Scattering in Condensed Matter was held at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island from August 28-31, 1979. The previous conferences in this series were held at Nottingham in 1975, and in France at Paris and Ste Maxime in 1972. Until about 15 years ago phonon scattering was studied almost exclusively by measurements of thermal conductivity. This approach has the severe limitation that the result obtained for the phonon scattering rate is actually the average of the scattering for all of the phonons in the sample. Thus, no distinction can be made between phonons of different polarization, direction of propagation, or energy. During the 1960's several significant developments occurred. The most important of these was the application by Von Gutfeld and Nethercot of the "heat-pulse" method, previously used only in liquid helium, to the investigation of phonons in crystals. This approach makes possible the study of the propagation and scat tering of phonons of known polarization and propagation direction. The early heat-pulse experiments used phonon generators which pro duced phonons having a broad distribution of energies and, in addi tion, the phonon detectors were sensitive to phonons of all energies.

This fully updated second edition of The Physics of Phonons remains the most comprehensive theoretical discussion devoted to the study of phonons, a major area of condensed matter physics. It contains exciting new sections on phonon-related properties of solid surfaces, atomically thin materials (such as graphene and monolayer transition metal chalcogenides), in addition to nano- structures and nanocomposites, thermoelectric nanomaterials, and topological nanomaterials, with an entirely new chapter dedicated to topological nanophononics and chiralphononics. Although primarily theoretical in approach, the author refers to experimental results wherever possible, ensuring an ideal book for both experimental and theoretical researchers. The author begins with an introduction to crystal symmetry and continues with a discussion of lattice dynamics in the harmonic approximation, including the traditional phenomenological approach and the more recent ab initio approach, detailed for the first time in this book. A discussion of anharmonicity is followed by the theory of lattice thermal conductivity, presented at a level far beyond that available in any other book. The chapter on phonon interactions is likewise more comprehensive than any similar discussion elsewhere. The sections on phonons in superlattices, impure and mixed crystals, quasicrystals, phonon spectroscopy, Kapitza resistance, and quantum evaporation also contain material appearing in book form for the first time. The book is complemented by numerous diagrams that aid understanding and is comprehensively referenced for further study. With its unprecedented wide coverage of the field, The Physics of Phonons is an indispensable guide for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and researchers working in condensed matter physics and materials science. Features Fully updated throughout, with exciting new coverage on graphene, nanostructures and nanocomposites, thermoelectric nanomaterials, and topological nanomaterials. Authored by an authority on phonons. Interdisciplinary, with broad applications through condensed matter physics, nanoscience, and materials science. --

This volume contains the proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Phonon Scattering in Condensed Matter held from August 22-26, 1983 at the University of Stuttgart. The preceding conferences were organized at Saint Maxime and Paris in 1972, at the University of Nottingham in 1975, and at the Brown University Providence/Rhode Island in 1979. The Stuttgart conference, like the preceding conferences, was mainly con cerned with "propagating" high-frequency acoustic phonons, mechanical waves and heat up to the lattice limiting frequency. Lattice dynamics, optical pho nons, phase transitions, etc., were included as far as they are involved in acoustical phonon scattering, propagation and generation. In this context the conference covered all aspects of acoustical phonon physics, especially generation of phonons, propagation, scattering and detection. Since acoustic phonons participate in most energy-transfer processes in solids and liquids, the field of interest is growing rapidly. Therefore exciting new developments of acoustic phonon physics could be presented at the Stuttgart conference as well as important progress with respect to well-known problems, as, for example, the Kapitza resistance. Two hundred and six scientists from 21 countries attended the conference. Thirteen invited papers and 105 contributed papers, with 34 as posters, were presented. The discussions are included in this volume. A discussion session on large wave vector phonons was organized and chaired by V. Narayanamurti. A discussion session on phonon scattering at interfaces was organized and chaired by R.O. Pohl.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Phonon Scattering in Condensed Matter held August 3-7, 1992, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. The preceding conferences were held at: St. Maxime and Paris (France) 1972, Nottingham (UK) 1975, Providence (USA) 1979, Stuttgart (Germany) 1983, Urbana (USA) 1986, and Heidelberg (Germany) 1989. The Heidelberg conference was held jointly with the Third International Con ference on Phonon Physics. The next conference, to be held in August, 1995, in Sapporo, Japan, and hosted by Professor T. Nakayama and his colleagues, will also be such a joint conference. This conference was attended by 227 scientists from 27 countries, and covered all aspects of phonon scattering in condensed matter, ranging from the more traditional topics of thermal conductivity, Kapitza resistance, and ballistic phonon propagation to the recently added topics, such as electron-phonon interaction in high-T c superconductors, the use of phonons in particle detection, and phonons in confined geometries. The 207 papers arranged in 11 chapters in this volume are a cross section of the present activities in the quite obviously vibrant field of phonons and their interactions.