Surface and gap intrinsic localized modes in one-dimensional III-V semiconductors

Abstract

A theoretical investigation has been made of intrinsic localized vibrational modes in an anharmonic one-dimensional diatomic lattice with alternating force constants coupling successive neighbours. This system simulates a row of atoms in the 111 direction of a III-V semiconductor. Specific calculations have been carried out for GaN, because it has a large gap between acoustic and optical branches. We study small-amplitude atom vibrations (up to 0.4 Å), accessible to experimental detection, in order to legitimize the expansion of the full potential to include cubic and quartic terms. We consider then nearest-neighbour interactions through harmonic as well as cubic and quartic anharmonic interactions to study the interplay between cubic and quartic terms in the frequencies of the localized modes. The force constants were determined empirically by fitting the longitudinal branches in the -L direction of GaN. We have studied both gap and surface intrinsic localized modes. Zinc-blende-structure chains are of particular interest, because the lack of inversion symmetry prevents the classification of the modes as even or odd parity. Nevertheless, modes were found that closely resemble the even- or odd-parity modes of an NaCl-structure chain. Their frequencies lie inside the gap for GaN. The absence of inversion symmetry permits a variety of surface modes to exist, depending on whether the bond at the surface is strong or weak and the atom at the surface is light or heavy. All surface mode frequencies for GaN lie inside the gap as found with the use of the full potential.