Spectroscopy of Vibrational States in Low-Dimensional Semiconductor Systems

This chapter presents the results of phonon study of semiconductor superlattices and quantum dots using Raman scattering and Infrared spectroscopy. The combination of these methods allows the spectrum of confined, surface optical, and folded acoustic phonons, as well as plasmon-phonon modes in semiconductor nanostructures, to be studied in detail. The analysis of the energy position of the phonon modes, their intensity, and their spectral width provides information on electronic spectrum and structural parameters such as layer thickness, quantum dot size, shape, and composition, as well as in-built mechanical strain. We discuss here possibilities and perspectives for establishing the phonon spectrum of single nanostructures using surface-enhanced Raman scattering.