Brillouin Light Scattering Studies of Two-Dimensional Layered Materials Systems

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Two-dimensional layered materials are the mille-feuille pastries of Condensed Matter Physics.  Like their edible analogs, these materials consist of weakly bound layers and exist in many different varieties, all of which have unique and interesting attributes.  Exploration and characterization of the properties of two-dimensional layered systems, however, is in its infancy, due mainly to their novelty and the limited number of analytical techniques capable of unintrusively probing the often fragile structures. In particular, there have been very few studies of the collective motions of the atoms that make up these materials - so-called 'acoustic phonons' - and those that have been done were carried out on a limited material set. Furthermore, the relationships between the mechanical properties and other important material properties have not been established. The research program that I plan to pursue at Memorial University will utilize an optical technique known as Brillouin spectroscopy to probe acoustic phonon behaviour in a variety of bulk and ultrathin two-dimensional layered materials with the aim of understanding the interplay between the mechanical, structural, and electronic properties of these systems.  This knowledge is critical to the development and refinement of theoretical models of phonon-related phenomena in layered materials, and for understanding the interaction between electrons and phonons in extremely thin systems.  From a technological perspective, the breadth and quantitative nature of the information obtained from the proposed research will serve as a mechanical properties database and as a reference platform for phonon engineering in these industrially-relevant materials systems. Moreover, knowledge of the mechanical properties of these materials is key to their anticipated adoption in new flexible electronic and optomechanical devices, and in alternate energy technologies that utilize elastic energy storage.