Surface effects on optical phonons and on phonon-plasmon modes

Abstract

The size and shape dependence of the properties of long wave optical phonons in polar crystals is discussed. The main effect occurring due to the presence of surfaces is the appearance of a surface optical phonon band in the frequency region between the frequencies ω t and ω l of the long wave transverse and longitudinal bulk modes. The surface modes give rise to strong absorption peaks in the infrared absorption spectra of small samples. For very small crystallites the surface mode absorption is dominant, and as the size of the specimens is increased, the ratio of surface to bulk mode absorption decreases. It is shown that the large spread in particle sizes usually encountered in experimental work and the increased damping of the phonon modes in small samples both tend to obscure the fine structure of the absorption spectrum. The surface phonon-plasmon modes in polar crystals containing free carriers are treated in an analogous manner.