Eur. Phys. J. B (2016) 89: 15
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2015-60727-7

Colloquium

Nanophononics: state of the art and perspectives

¹ Laboratoire d’Energétique Moléculaire et Macroscopique, Combustion, CNRS, CentraleSupelec, Grande Voie des Vignes, 92295 Chatenay-Malabry, France
² VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, P.O. Box 1000, 02044 VTT, Espoo, Finland
³ Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans, UMR CNRS 6283, Université du Maine, 72085 Le Mans, France
⁴ Laboratoire d’Acoustique, UMR CNRS 6613, Université du Maine, 72085 Le Mans, France
⁵ Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstr. 10, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
⁶ Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Campus UAB, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
⁷ ICREA, Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
⁸ Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
⁹ Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
¹⁰ Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis, One Shields Ave. Davis, CA, 95616, USA
¹¹ Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
¹² Donostia International Physics Center, Paseo M. de Lardizabal 4, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain

^b e-mail: donadio@mpip-mainz.mpg.de

Received: 7 September 2015
Received in final form: 3 December 2015
Published online: 20 January 2016

Abstract

Understanding and controlling vibrations in condensed matter is emerging as an essential necessity both at fundamental level and for the development of a broad variety of technological applications. Intelligent design of the band structure and transport properties of phonons at the nanoscale and of their interactions with electrons and photons impact the efficiency of nanoelectronic systems and thermoelectric materials, permit the exploration of quantum phenomena with micro- and nanoscale resonators, and provide new tools for spectroscopy and imaging. In this colloquium we assess the state of the art of nanophononics, describing the recent achievements and the open challenges in nanoscale heat transport, coherent phonon generation and exploitation, and in nano- and optomechanics. We also underline the links among the diverse communities involved in the study of nanoscale phonons, pointing out the common goals and opportunities.