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This book presents a comprehensive description of phonons and their interactions in systems with different dimensions and length scales. Internationally-recognized leaders describe theories and measurements of phonon interactions in relation to the design of materials with exotic properties such as metamaterials, nano-mechanical systems, next-generation electronic, photonic, and acoustic devices, energy harvesting, optical information storage, and applications of phonon lasers in a variety of fields.The emergence of techniques for control of semiconductor properties and geometry has enabled engineers to design structures in which functionality is derived from controlling electron behavior. As manufacturing techniques have greatly expanded the list of available materials and the range of attainable length scales, similar opportunities now exist for designing devices whose functionality is derived from controlling phonon behavior. However, progress in this area is hampered by gaps in our knowledge of phonon transport across and along arbitrary interfaces, the scattering of phonons with crystal defects, interface roughness and mass-mixing, delocalized electrons/collective electronic excitations, and solid acoustic vibrations when these occur in structures with small physical dimensions. This book provides a comprehensive description of phonons and their interactions in systems with different dimensions and length scales. Theories and measurements of phonon interactions are described in relation to the design of materials with exotic properties such as metamaterials, nano-mechanical systems, next-generation electronic, photonic, and acoustic devices, energy harvesting, optical information storage, and applications of phonon lasers in a variety of fields.

This book focuses on phonons and electrons, which the student needs to learn first in solid state physics. The required quantum theory and statistical physics are derived from scratch. Systematic in structure and tutorial in style, the treatment is filled with detailed mathematical steps and physical interpretations. This approach ensures a self-sufficient content for easier teaching and learning. The objective is to introduce the concepts of phonons and electrons in a more rigorous and yet clearer way, so that the student does not need to relearn them in more advanced courses. Examples are the transition from lattice vibrations to phonons and from free electrons to energy bands.The book can be used as the beginning module of a one-year introductory course on solid state physics, and the instructor will have a chance to choose additional topics. Alternatively, it can be taught as a stand-alone text for building the most-needed foundation in just one semester.