Phonon-Phonon Quantum Coherent Coupling in GaAs/AlAs Superlattice

Quantum coherent coupling between a zone-center phonon and two acoustic phonons was observed in two GaAs/AlAs superlattices (8 nm/8 nm and 5.4 nm/5.4 nm) at ambient temperature. Using degenerate coherent phonon spectroscopy, a multi-cycle oscillation feature appears in the time-resolved phonon amplitudes of both samples, as a result of the coherent energy exchange between a driving phonon mode near first Brillouin zone center and two target acoustic phonon modes. This feature resembles the photon resonant parametric down/up-conversion processes, as well as the reversible coherent energy exchange between the optical field and a mechanical oscillator, suggesting quantum coherent coupling between the driving and target phonon modes. In the 8 nm/8 nm superlattice, the coupling strength increases nonlinearly at high pump fluences, which may eventually reach an extreme state where all three phonon modes share the same coherent state, as predicted by Orbach in the 1960s.