Phonon

Article

A phonon is a quantum of collective vibration in a crystal lattice or other condensed-matter system. It plays a role for mechanical vibrations similar to the role a photon plays for electromagnetic radiation.

Atoms in a solid do not vibrate independently; their motions combine into normal modes extending through the material. Quantising these modes produces phonons with defined energy and momentum-like crystal momentum.

Phonons may be acoustic or optical and longitudinal or transverse, depending on the pattern of atomic motion. Their dispersion relations describe how frequency varies with wavevector.

Phonons influence heat capacity, thermal conductivity, electrical resistance, superconductivity, sound propagation, and interactions between light and matter. They are fundamental to solid-state and materials physics.

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• Source / publisher: Wikipedia
• URL type: WWW
• Credits: Wikipedia
• URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonon