Solid State Physics

PHY 350
BS-ELECTRONICS

Atomic Vibrations/Lattice Vibration for

Mono-atomic and Diatomic lattice 1-D
Phonons

• We assume lattice points at fixed position, but atoms have some

energy and they vibrate from their mean position.
• Phonons:
• Lattice vibration produce energy that behave like (acoustical
branch and Optical branch).
• Photons where EMWs energy are quantized. (Packets of
energy)
• Similarly Lattice energy due to vibration are also quantized
known as phonons.

Number of phonons depends on temperature,

𝐸 = ℎ𝜗 because of vibrational energy are phonons.
Convert into Angular frequency
ℎ Average number of phonons in a
𝐸= 2𝜋 𝜗 vibrational mode.
ℎ
2𝜋
= ħ (Reduced plank’s Constant) 1
2𝜋
𝐸 =ħ𝜔
𝑛=
ത ħ𝜔
−1
𝑒 𝐾 𝐵 𝑇
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)

• Sound wave or elastic wave in crystals are said to be

composed of phonons.
• Sound waves or strain waves or lattice waves with the
frequency spectrum determined by the elastic properties
of the crystal
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)

• We assume same mass of an atom and periodicity in it.

• A spring in b/w them and vibrate like simple harmonic
motion (longitudinal waves). Spring Constant "𝛽”

(𝑛 − 1)𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑡ℎ (𝑛 + 1)𝑡ℎ

• Force on nth atom

• 𝐹1 = − 𝛽 (𝑈𝑛 − 𝑈𝑛+1 ) 𝑈𝑛−1 𝑈𝑛 𝑈𝑛+1
• 𝐹2 = − 𝛽 (𝑈𝑛 − 𝑈𝑛−1 )
• Total force
• 𝐹𝑡 = 𝛽𝑈𝑛+1 − 2𝛽𝑈𝑛 + 𝛽𝑈𝑛−1
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)

• 𝐹𝑡 = 𝛽(𝑈𝑛+1 −2𝑈𝑛 + 𝑈𝑛−1 )

• Equation of motion (Newton’s law)

𝑑 2 𝑈𝑛
𝐹𝑡 = 𝑚
𝑑𝑡 2
𝑑 2 𝑈𝑛
𝛽(𝑈𝑛+1 −2𝑈𝑛 + 𝑈𝑛−1 ) = 𝑚 2 ------- (1)
𝑑𝑡
• All atoms oscillate with same frequency and having same amplitude 𝑈𝑜 .
• This can be described as wave equation
𝑈𝑛 = 𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (2)
𝑈𝑛+1 = 𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾 𝑛+1 𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (3) → 𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) . 𝑒 𝑖𝐾𝑎
𝑈𝑛−1 = 𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾 𝑛−1 𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (4) → 𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) . 𝑒 −𝑖𝐾𝑎
𝑑 2 𝑈𝑛
= −𝑈𝑜 𝜔2 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (5)
𝑑𝑡 2
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)

• Substitute eq (2),(3), (4), (5) in equation (1)

𝑑 2 𝑈𝑛
𝛽(𝑈𝑛+1 −2𝑈𝑛 + 𝑈𝑛−1 ) = 𝑚 2
𝑑𝑡
𝛽𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) (𝑒 𝑖𝐾𝑎 -2 + 𝑒 −𝑖𝐾𝑎 )= - m 𝜔2 𝑈𝑜 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡)
𝛽 (𝑒 𝑖𝐾𝑎 -2 + 𝑒 −𝑖𝐾𝑎 ) = -m 𝜔2
𝑖𝐾𝑎 𝑖𝐾𝑎
𝛽 ((𝑒 2 2 ) -2 + 𝑒(− 2 )2 ) = -m 𝜔2

(𝑎 − 𝑏)2 = 𝑎2 + 𝑏2 − 2𝑎𝑏
a b
𝑖𝐾𝑎 𝑖𝐾𝑎
−
𝛽 (𝑒 2 -𝑒 ) = -m 𝜔2 ---- (7)
2 2

𝑒 𝑖𝜃 − 𝑒 −𝑖𝜃
sin 𝜃 =
2𝑖
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)

𝑘𝑎
𝑖2
𝑘𝑎
−𝑖 2 𝑒 𝑖𝜃 − 𝑒 −𝑖𝜃
𝑘𝑎 𝑒 − 𝑒 sin 𝜃 =
sin = 2𝑖
2 2𝑖

Squaring both sides

𝑘𝑎 𝑘𝑎
𝑖2 −𝑖 2 2
𝑘𝑎 (𝑒 − 𝑒 )
sin2 =
2 𝑘𝑎
−4 𝑘𝑎
𝑘𝑎
-4sin2 = (𝑒 𝑖 2 − 𝑒 −𝑖 2 )2 ------- (8)
2
Put eq 8 in 7
𝑘𝑎
𝛽 4sin 2 = m 𝜔2
2
4𝛽 𝑘𝑎
𝜔2 = sin 2
𝑚 2
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)

4𝛽 𝑘𝑎
𝜔2 = sin 2
𝑚 2
4𝛽 𝑘𝑎
Angular frequency: 𝜔 = sin
𝑚 2

• Dispersion relation b/w angular frequency (𝜔) and a wave

vector k for a one-dimensional periodic lattices.
Atomic vibrations (Mono-Atomic)
4𝛽 𝑘𝑎
𝜔2 = sin2
𝑚 2
4𝛽 𝑘𝑎
Angular frequency: 𝜔 = sin
𝑚 2
Why linear in the start? 𝜔
• 𝜔𝑚 = ?
2𝜋
• k= λ (λ is too high) • 𝜔=
4𝛽
sin
𝑘𝑎
𝑚 2 𝜔𝑚
• k→0 𝑘𝑎
𝑘𝑎 𝑘𝑎 • sin =1
• lim sin 2 = 2 2
𝑘→𝑜 𝑘
4𝛽
4𝛽 𝑎𝑘 So 𝜔𝑚 =
• So 𝜔 = . 𝑚 2𝜋 𝜋 𝜋 2𝜋
𝑚 2 − − 𝑎
• 𝜔∝k 𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
• k=?
𝑘𝑎 𝜋
• sin 2 = 1 when sin 2
𝑘𝑎 𝜋
• =
2 2
𝜋
• k=𝑎
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

• Different atoms in mass. e.g. NaCl (Diatomic)

𝑡ℎ
(2𝑛 − 1)𝑡ℎ 2𝑛𝑡ℎ (2𝑛 + 1)𝑡ℎ (2𝑛 + 2)

𝑈2𝑛−1 𝑈2𝑛 𝑈2𝑛+1 𝑈2𝑛+2

• Force on 2nth atom (small atom)

• 𝐹1 = − 𝛽 (𝑈2𝑛 − 𝑈2𝑛+1 )
• 𝐹2 = − 𝛽 (𝑈2𝑛 − 𝑈2𝑛−1 )
• Total force
• 𝐹𝑡 = 𝛽𝑈2𝑛+1 − 2𝛽𝑈2𝑛 + 𝛽𝑈2𝑛−1
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

• 𝐹𝑡 = 𝛽(𝑈2𝑛+1 −2𝑈2𝑛 + 𝑈2𝑛−1 )

• Equation of motion (Newton’s law)

𝑑2 𝑈2𝑛
𝐹𝑡 = 𝑚
𝑑𝑡 2
𝑑 2 𝑈2𝑛
𝛽(𝑈2𝑛+1 −2𝑈2𝑛 + 𝑈2𝑛−1 ) = 𝑚 2 ------- (1)
𝑑𝑡
• Different Mass different Amplitude A and B.
• This can be described as wave equation
𝑈2𝑛 = 𝐴 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾2𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (2)
𝑈2𝑛+1 = 𝐵𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾 2𝑛+1 𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (3)
𝑈2𝑛−1 = 𝐵 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾 2𝑛−1 𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (4)
𝑑 2 𝑈2𝑛
= −𝐴𝜔2 𝑒 𝑖 (𝐾2𝑛𝑎−𝜔𝑡) ------- (5)
𝑑𝑡 2
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

• Substitute eq (2),(3), (4), (5) in equation (1)

• After solving
For small m: 2𝛽 − 𝑚𝜔2 𝐴 − 2𝛽𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑘𝑎 𝐵= 0 --- (6)

• Now for big M

• 𝐹1 = − 𝛽 (𝑈2𝑛+1 − 𝑈2𝑛+2 ) 𝑡ℎ
(2𝑛 − 1)𝑡ℎ 2𝑛𝑡ℎ (2𝑛 + 1)𝑡ℎ (2𝑛 + 2)
• 𝐹2 = − 𝛽 (𝑈2𝑛+1 − 𝑈2𝑛 )
• Total force
• 𝐹𝑡 = 𝛽(𝑈2𝑛+2 +𝑈2𝑛 −2𝑈2𝑛+1 )

• Similarly 𝑈2𝑛−1 𝑈2𝑛 𝑈2𝑛+1 𝑈2𝑛+2

2
𝑑 𝑈2𝑛+1
𝐹𝑡 = 𝑀
𝑑𝑡 2
𝑑 2 𝑈2𝑛+1
𝛽(𝑈2𝑛+2 +𝑈2𝑛 −2𝑈2𝑛+1 ) = 𝑀 2 𝑑𝑡
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

For M: − 2𝛽𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑘𝑎 𝐴 + 2𝛽 − 𝑀𝜔2 𝐵= 0 ---- (7)

• From equation (6) and (7)

1 1 1 1 2 4sin2𝑘𝑎
𝜔2 =𝛽 ( + ) ±𝛽 ( + )−
𝑚 𝑀 𝑚 𝑀 𝑚𝑀

1 1 1 1 2 4sin2𝑘𝑎
𝜔+2 =𝛽 ( + ) +𝛽 ( + )− ---- Optical branch
𝑚 𝑀 𝑚 𝑀 𝑚𝑀

1 1 1 1 2 4sin2𝑘𝑎 ---- Acoustical Branch

𝜔-2 = 𝛽 ( + ) −𝛽 ( + )−
𝑚 𝑀 𝑚 𝑀 𝑚𝑀
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

1 1 1 1 2 4sin2𝑘𝑎
1) 𝜔+2 = 𝛽 ( + ) +𝛽 ( + )− ---- Optical branch
𝑚 𝑀 𝑚 𝑀 𝑚𝑀

i) For k = 0 𝜔
1 1
2𝛽 ( + )
𝑚 𝑀
1 1
𝜔+ = 2𝛽 ( + ) 2𝛽
𝑚 𝑀 𝑚

𝜋
ii) For ka = 2𝑎 𝑘
𝜋 𝜋
− 2𝑎
2𝛽 2𝑎
𝜔+ =
𝑚
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

1 1 1 1 2 4sin2𝑘𝑎
1) 𝜔-2 = 𝛽 ( + ) −𝛽 ( + )− ---- Acoustical Branch
𝑚 𝑀 𝑚 𝑀 𝑚𝑀

i) For k = 0 𝜔

𝜔- = 0
2𝛽
𝑀

𝜋
ii) For ka = 2𝑎 𝑘
𝜋 𝜋
−
2𝛽 2𝑎 2𝑎
𝜔- =
𝑀
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

1 1
𝜔 2𝛽 ( + ) Optical branch
𝑚 𝑀

2𝛽
𝑚
Forbidden Band
2𝛽 Acoustical Branch
𝑀

𝑘
𝜋 𝜋
−
2𝑎 2𝑎
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

• In optical branch atoms vibrate in opposite direction to each other

• In acoustical branch atoms vibrates in same direction
Lattice vibration in diatomic lattices in 1D

• In optical branch atoms vibrate in opposite direction to each other

• In acoustical branch atoms vibrates in same direction