Optical phonons in wurtzite and cubic structures

Abstract

Optical phonons play a crucial role in polar semiconductors due to their strong interaction with electrons. The phonons and electron-phonon interaction have been investigated primarily in cubic materials due to relative simplicity of the phonon spectra in these optically isotropic materials. Recent interest in group III-nitrides, which usually crystallize in a hexagonal wurtzite structure, as well as the needs of contemporary technologies in nanoscale sources of high-frequency oscillations have brought up a number of additional questions related to phonon physics in solid state devices. In this abstract, we summarize the main differences between the optical phonon spectra in wurtzite and cubic structures and point to the significance of the electron-phonon interaction strength for a number of phonon-related problems and applications.