Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 6/9
Authors: Sheregii E. M. 
Published: September 2009

In the last two decades research in the area of the lattice dynamics of solids has developed important methods of investigation, playing a pivotal role in the characterization of advanced materials at various dimensional and temporal scales. The growing interest and high technological relevance of vibrational spectra research have been justified by the use of new experimental instruments such as those for Fourier spectroscopy and new light sources in the infrared region such as the synchrotron radiation sources opened in several great facilities both in Europe and worldwide.

This E‐MRS Symposium J – New Opportunities and Challenges in Material Research using Phonon and Vibrational Spectra – was intended to:

– give an overview of the current status of optical metrology in the far‐infrared region for materials characterization and quality assurance of monocrystals and layer‐structured materials as well as of one‐dimensional nanomaterials, with a particular emphasis on state‐of‐the‐art metrology for the detection of defects and impurities using vibrational spectra; and

– promote and encourage the interaction between academic and industrial research (instrument manufacture, the IC and optoelectronics industry and materials suppliers) to address scientific and technological challenges associated with the improvement of standard analytical methods and qualification of newer techniques.

Firstly, we highlight the trends and advances in the techniques of optical metrology in the far‐infrared region for monocrystals (mainly solid solutions), thin‐film materials, nanowires and nanotubes; secondly, we address the application of such techniques to the study of real local crystalline structure (character of basic cell distribution in lattices and quantitative analyses of defects and impurities) in these materials.

It is imperative to employ in situ new metrology as manufacturing processes become more complicated; this is particularly true in the microelectronics and microsystems industry, such as compound semiconductor electronics, phononics, MEMS and sensors.

The current trends in optical metrology mainly concern Fourier spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy applied to micro‐ and nanostructures: infrared microscopy and Raman microscopy. Both related techniques (Fourier and Raman) have attracted considerable interest in the last decade and are currently involved in the characterization of nanomaterials. In the symposium, these methods were discussed with particular attention paid to their application, as well as their limitations and complementarities.

In the material presented here of the E‐MRS Fall Meeting 2009 Symposium J, there is reflected the main trends mentioned above in the area of lattice dynamic research: the general problems of the far‐infrared spectroscopy of solids – use of synchrotron radiation (is begun by the paper of A. Marcelli et al.); the theoretical questions in the spectroscopy of quantum dots – phonon‐assisted Kondo tunneling (is begun by the paper of K. Kikoin); experimental research of quantum dots and nanoparticles (is begun by the paper of A. Milekhin); Raman spectroscopy of quantum wires and nanotubes (is begun by the paper of W. Szuszkiewich); and next questions – electron–phonon interactions and pononics (Y. Pennec). Unfortunately, in these proceedings some important topics considered during the work of Symposium J, such as the application of Raman microscopy to MBE growth or acoustic solitons, are not found. The organizers express the opinion that at the time of the next similar symposium, all important issues related to modern vibrational and phonon spectra research will be represented in accompanying proceedings.