Photogeneration of coherent shear phonons in orientated wurtzite semiconductors by piezoelectric coupling

Abstract

Using piezoelectric wurtzite semiconductor with accurate control of the crystal cut, we investigate the photogeneration of coherent shear acoustic phonons through anisotropic piezoelectric coupling. Theoretical study suggests the dominant contribution of the piezoelectric effect to the shear phonon generation in $a$-plane wurtzite GaN, which is also confirmed by the picosecond ultrasonic experiments with different dopant and excitation conditions. Piezoelectric transduction thus explains the observed remarkable coherent shear phonon signal. The influence of the ultrafast screening of surface electric field by photocarriers on the intensity and waveform of the generated shear acoustic pulse are discussed.