Density of Phonon States (Kittel, Ch5)

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

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

0 1 M-1 M
a ME 595M, T.S. Fisher
 Density of States, contd
Thus, we have M-1 allowed, independent values of
K
This is the same number of particles allowed to move
In K-space, we thus have M-1 allowable wavevectors
Each wavevector describes a single mode, and one
mode exists in each distance /L of K-space
Thus, dK/dN = /L, where N is the number of modes

/a

/(M-1)a /L /a
ME 595M, T.S. Fisher
 Density of States, contd
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 ( ) = =1 = =
L d L dK d d / dK
The last denominator is simply the group velocity,
derived from the dispersion relation

1
D ( ) =
v g

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher

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

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) /a
occupies a region of area
(2/L)2
K
Thus, within the circle of
radius K, there are
approximately
K2/ (2/L)2 allowed
2/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 (2/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 = K 3 = 2
2 3 6
The 3D density of states becomes
2
1 dN 1 dN dK K 1
D ( ) = =3 = = 2
L d V dK d 2 d / dK

ME 595M, T.S. Fisher