Intrinsic coherent acoustic phonons in the indirect band gap semiconductors Si and GaP

Abstract

We report on the intrinsic optical generation and detection of coherent acoustic phonons at (001)-oriented bulk Si and GaP without metallic phonon transducer structures. Photoexcitation by a 3.1-eV laser pulse generates a normal strain pulse within the $\ensuremath{\sim}100$-nm penetration depth in both semiconductors. The subsequent propagation of the strain pulse into the bulk is detected with a delayed optical probe as a periodic modulation of the optical reflectivity. Our theoretical model explains quantitatively the generation of the acoustic pulse via the deformation potential electron-phonon coupling and detection in terms of the spatially and temporally dependent photoelastic effect for both semiconductors. Comparison with our theoretical model reveals that the experimental strain pulses have finite buildup times of 1.2 and 0.4 ps for GaP and Si, which are comparable with the time required for the photoexcited electrons to transfer to the lowest X valley through intervalley scattering. The deformation potential coupling related to the acoustic pulse generation for GaP is estimated to be twice as strong as that for Si from our experiments, in agreement with a previous theoretical prediction.