Density of Phonon States (Kittel, Ch5)

• Consider a 1D chain of total length L carrying M+1 particles

(atoms) at a separation a
ƒ Fix the position of particles 0 and M
ƒ Each normal vibrational mode of polarization p takes the form of a
standing wave
xn ~ sin( nKa ) exp( −iωKp t )
ƒ Only certain wavelengths (wavevectors) are allowed
λmax=2L (Kmin=π/L), λmin=2a (Kmax=π/a=Mπ/L)
ƒ In general, the allowed values of K are
Note: K=Mπ/L is not included
π 2π 3π ( M − 1)π because it implies no atomic
K = , , ,..., motion, i.e.,
L L L L sin(nMπa/L)=sin(nπ)=0.
L

0 1 M-1 M
a ME 595M, T.S. Fisher
 Density of States, cont’d
• Thus, we have M-1 allowed, independent values of
K
ƒ This is the same number of particles allowed to move
ƒ In K-space, we thus have M-1 allowable wavevectors
ƒ Each wavevector describes a single mode, and one
mode exists in each distance π/L of K-space
ƒ Thus, dK/dN = π/L, where N is the number of modes

π/a

π/(M-1)a π/L π/a

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher
 Density of States, cont’d
• The phonon density of states gives the number of
modes per unit frequency per unit volume of real
space
1 dN 1 dN dK 1 1
D ( ω) = α=1 = =
L d ω L dK d ω π d ω / dK
ƒ The last denominator is simply the group velocity,
derived from the dispersion relation

1
D ( ω) =
πv g

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher

 Periodic Boundary Conditions
• For more generality, apply periodic boundary
conditions to the chain and find
2π 4π Mπ
K = 0, ± , ± ,...,
L L L
ƒ Still gives same number of modes (one per particle that
is allowed to move) as previous case

ƒ Often used in the study of higher-dimension systems (2D

and 3D)

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher

 2D Density of States
• Each allowable K-space
wavevector (mode) π/a
occupies a region of area
(2π/L)2
K
• Thus, within the circle of
radius K, there are
approximately
πK2/ (2π/L)2 allowed
2π/L
wavevectors
• Density of states
calculated for homework

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher

 3D Density of States
• Using periodic boundary conditions in 3D, there is
one allowed value of K per (2π/L)3 volume of K-
space
• The total number of modes with wavevectors of
magnitude less than a given K is thus
3 3
⎛ ⎞ ⎛
L 4 ⎞ VK
N = ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ πK 3 ⎟ = 2
⎝ 2π ⎠ ⎝ 3 ⎠ 6π
• The 3D density of states becomes
2
1 dN 1 dN dK K 1
D ( ω) = α=3 = = 2
L d ω V dK d ω 2π d ω / dK

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher