Phononics of Graphene, Layered Materials, and Heterostructures

Phononics deals with quanta of crystal lattice vibrations — phonons — whose characteristics influence elastic, acoustic, thermal, optical, and electrical properties of materials. Phononics of layered materials and their heterostructures is particularly interesting. Understanding the physics of crystal lattice vibrations enables us to engineer the phonon spectrum across a wide energy range — from sub-GHz to hundreds of THz. Fine-tuning the phonon energies and dispersion is a new tool to achieve innovative device functionalities. Optical phonons demonstrate sensitivity to the number of atomic planes in few-layer graphene — thus, opening applications in nanometrology. The acoustic phonons' dependence on the number of atomic planes in layered materials allows one to change the heat conduction properties. Engineering phonon spectra by changing the thickness of layered materials, rotating atomic planes, and hetero-interfacing elastically and dielectrically dissimilar layers is a new frontier of nanotechnology research. Strongly correlated phenomena in low-dimensional materials depend crucially on the specifics of phonon spectra and phonon coupling with charge carriers or charge carrier complexes. Interest in phononics goes beyond fundamental science. Control of phonon dispersion and interactions is crucial for developing next-generation electronics, spintronics, and renewable energy conversion devices.

Guest Editors: Andrea Ferrari and Alexander Balandin