Dear Abbas Fadhel a photon is a quantum of light while a phonon is a collective oscillation or wave of the atoms or molecules in condensed mater. It is also called lattice wave when associated to periodic movements of a It can be seen like the "wave" people do in football games.
Phonon and photon are two very close words that can be mistaken by many beginners in physics and science. A photon is a package of energy that is the foundation of quantum mechanics. A phonon is a collective vibration of several atoms. Both of these concepts are very important in physics. Photon theory is the basic theory on which much of modern physics depends. Phonon is also an important concept in the study of materials and their internal vibrations.
Photons and phonons are both bosonic particles, the former representing a quanta of light and the latter a quanta of atomic lattice vibration. Both are not conserved, and can be destroyed or created in a number of physical processes. In general, there are some differences:
phonons exist only in systems with atoms to vibrate (crystalline solids are the simplest case). This means they are not ‘elementary particles’, and it also means that their momentum is only uniquely defined in the first Brillouin zone.
photons in free space have one type of dispersion relation (energy and momentum are always proportional), while phonons in crystalline solids (for example) typically show two types of dispersions (optical and acoustic) and multiple branches of each type (depending how many atoms are in a unit cell and dimensionality).
In addition to all the interesting answers Prof. Abbas Fadhel, phonons are the quasiparticles of the elastic field and photons are the quasiparticles of the electromagnetic field. Both names can be given after the second quantization of those two physical fields.
Phonon and photon are two very close words, which can be mistaken for the same thing. A photon is a packet of energy, which is the base of quantum mechanics. A phonon is the collective oscillation of several atoms. Both of these concepts are very important in physics. Photon theory is the underlying theory that most of the modern physics is dependent on. Phonon is also an important concept in studying materials and their internal oscillations. In this article, we are going to discuss what phonon and photon are, their similarities, their definitions, applications of phonon and photon and finally the difference between photon and phonon.
• A photon is a form of energy but the phonon is a mode of oscillation that occurs in lattice structures.
• A photon can be considered as a wave and a particle, which are physically observable entities. A phonon is a mode of vibration, which is neither a wave nor a particle.
The key evidence for light waves is the Young’s double-slit interference experiment. After the discovery of the double-slit interference experiment of particles (electrons, etc.), the conclusion of light waves can no longer be established. "Wave-particle duality" denies light as particles because of the wave phenomenon, but recognizes the wave nature of particles. It is better understood that light particles have wave phenomena. Of course, light particle behavior and wave mechanism need new understanding.
When excited thermally or by a photon, atoms that make up a solid material vibrate in ways that embody essential information about the material’s composition, structure, and optical and electrical properties. Known as phonons, the characteristic vibrations are typically measured using Raman scattering, IR spectroscopy, and other optical techniques
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