Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/R33595/01
Title:	Monochromatic phonon source and phonon spectrometer for studies of low dimensional structures.
Principal Investigator:	Kent, Professor A
Other Investigators:	Henini, Professor M Sheard, Professor F
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Sch of Physics & Astronomy
Organisation:	University of Nottingham
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 December 2001	Ends:	31 August 2005	Value (£):	376,353
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Characterisation
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Electronics
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Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The aim of this research is to develop the instrumentation for ballistic phonon spectroscopy of low dimensional semiconductor structures and solidstate nanostructures. The system will be capable of generating beams of monochromatic ballistic acoustic phonons in the frequency range 100 GHz to 1 THz frequency range from superlattices stimulated impulsively by a femto second laser pulse. It will also feature a narrowband tuneable phonon spectrometer based on vertical transport in a weakly coupled superlattice. The instrument will provide valuable information on such topics as the carrier states and carrier-phonon interactions in low dimensional semiconductor structures, the nature of defects and buried structures in solids, the states of magnetic ions in magnetically doped semiconductors and could be used in a wide range of phonon optics applications, e.g. acoustic microscopy of solid-state nanostructures. In this work we plan to demonstrate the potential of the instrument by carrying out the following investigations: (1) measuring non destructively the size and shape of InAs quantum dots buried in GaAs; and (2) studying carrier relaxation in semiconductor quantum dots and two dimensional electron systems. As part of the development we will nvestigate phonon amplification in superlattice structures. This may lead to the development of the first SASER (Sound Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) device working at frequencies of 100+ GHz.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.nottingham.ac.uk