Low–frequency Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy from graphite, diamond and diamond–like carbons, fullerenes and nanotubes

Abstract

Inelastic light scattering by acoustic phonons (Brillouin scattering) is a useful tool for probing material properties at the submicrometre scale. In media which are statistically homogeneous at this scale, it gives access to the acoustic properties and the elastic moduli. In nanostructures it probes the vibrational properties at the mesoscopic scale. Applications to carbonaceous materials are reviewed.

Acoustic phonon propagation in ultra-thin Si membranes under biaxial stress field

“…BLS spectroscopy allows the investigation of thermally activated acoustic phonons (waves) in the GHz range of frequencies. BLS is a well established technique commonly used in nondestructive testing of elastic properties in bulk materials and thin films [33][34][35][36][37]. BLS has been also found as an excellent tool to characterize phonons propagation in the nm-scale systems, such as ultra-thin free standing membranes [13] and phononic crystals [3,5,38].…”

Low frequency vibrations observed on assemblies of vertical multiwall carbon nanotubes by Brillouin light scattering: determination of the Young modulus

“…In this work, Brillouin light scattering (BLS) is used, as soft, reliable and non-destructive technique, to study low frequency acoustic vibrations in arrays of high density VCNTs aiming to determine their Young modulus. If BLS was widely used for investigating the elastic properties of transparent, opaque films and multilayers [23], and proved to be efficient to study low frequency vibration properties of graphite, diamond and diamond-like carbons, fullerenes and nanotubes [24], experimental studies dealing with the investigation of the low frequency acoustic vibrations in arrays of VCNTs are missing.…”