Tony Kent

Contact

• workRoom C140 Physics
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 951 5143
• anthony.kent@nottingham.ac.uk

Research Summary

My research is concerned with the fundamental physical properties of III-V semiconductor nanostructures and devices including those based on Gallium Arsenide and Gallium Nitride. Electronic transport… read more

Selected Publications

• KENT, A.J., KINI, R.N., STANTON, N.M., HENINI, M., GLAVIN, B.A., KOCHELAP, V.A. and LINNIK, T.L., 2006. Acoustic phonon emission from a weakly coupled superlattice under vertical electron transport: observation of phonon resonance Physical Review Letters. 96(21), 215504
• BEARDSLEY, R.P., CAMPION, R.P ., GLAVIN, B.A. and KENT, A.J., 2011. A GaAs/AlAs superlattice as an electrically pumped THz acoustic phonon amplifier New Journal of Physics. 13(07), 073007
• YOUNG, E S K, AKIMOV, A V, HENINI, M, EAVES, L and KENT, A J, Subterahertz acoustical pumping of electronic charge in a resonant tunneling device. Physical review letters. 108(22), 226601
• STANTON, N.M. and KENT, A.J., 2006. Propagation of high amplitude strain pulses in sapphire Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 73(22), 220301(R)

• View all publications

Current Research

My research is concerned with the fundamental physical properties of III-V semiconductor nanostructures and devices including those based on Gallium Arsenide and Gallium Nitride. Electronic transport and optical, particularly ultra-fast, techniques are used to study the interaction of electrons and holes with lattice vibrations (phonons). Of particular interest is electron-phonon interaction in multilayered semiconductor strucures, e.g. superlattices. These structures can be used to generate, manipulate and detect coherent nanoacoustic waves (sound waves with nanometre wavelength). Such waves may find applications in the probing and imaging of nanostructures and controlling light including millimetre waves. Through design of novel superlattice structures that can both amplify phonons due to the electron-phonon interaction and confine phonons in an acoustic cavity we can build a saser device (the equivalent of a laser, but for THz sound instead of light). This work is carried out in collaboration with theoretical physicist colleagues in Dresden and Kiev.

For more details see the semiconductor physics web pages

Current Teaching

F33SO2: Laser Physics and Matter-Light Interactions

Past Research

Carrier-phonon interations in semiconductors; NMR; high T_c superconductors

• SRIKANTHREDDY, D., GLAVIN, B. A., POYSER, C. L., HENINI, M., LEHMANN, D., JASIUKIEWICZ, CZ., AKIMOV, A. V. and KENT, A. J., 2017. Piezoelectric Response to Coherent Longitudinal and Transverse Acoustic Phonons in a Semiconductor Schottky Diode PHYSICAL REVIEW APPLIED. 7(2),
• KENT, ANTHONY J., POYSER, CAROLINE L., AKIMOV, ANDREY V., YORK, WILLIAM, HENINI, MOHAMED and CAMPION, RICHARD P., 2017. Decay of coherent acoustic phonons generated by femtosecond pulsed optical excitation and injected in a Wannier-Stark superlattice ULTRAFAST PHENOMENA AND NANOPHOTONICS XXI. 10102,
• POYSER, C. L., YORK, W. B., SRIKANTHREDDY, D., GLAVIN, B. A., LINNIK, T. L., CAMPION, R. P., AKIMOV, A. V. and KENT, A. J., 2017. Phonon Spectroscopy with Chirped Shear and Compressive Acoustic Pulses PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. 119(25),
• AKIMOV, ANDREY V., POYSER, CAROLINE L. and KENT, ANTHONY J., 2017. Review of microwave electro-phononics in semiconductor nanostructures SEMICONDUCTOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. 32(5), 1-35
• NOVIKOV, SERGEI V., STADDON, CHRIS R., WHALE, JOSH, KENT, ANTHONY J. and FOXON, C. THOMAS, 2016. Growth of free-standing wurtzite AlGaN by MBE using a highly efficient RF plasma source JOURNAL OF VACUUM SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY B. 34(2),
• BEARDSLEY, RYAN, AKIMOV, ANDREY V., GREENER, JAKE D. G., MUDD, GARRY W., SANDEEP, SATHYAN, KUDRYNSKYI, ZAKHAR R., KOVALYUK, ZAKHAR D., PATANE, AMALIA and KENT, ANTHONY J., 2016. Nanomechanical probing of the layer/substrate interface of an exfoliated InSe sheet on sapphire SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 6,
• POYSER, CAROLINE L., CZERNIUK, THOMAS, AKIMOV, ANDREY, DIROLL, BENJAMIN T., GAULDING, E. ASHLEY, SALASYUK, ALEXEY S., KENT, ANTHONY J., YAKOVLEV, DMITRI R., BAYER, MANFRED and MURRAY, CHRISTOPHER B., 2016. Coherent Acoustic Phonons in Colloidal Semiconductor Nanocrystal Superlattices ACS NANO. 10(1), 1163-1169
• GOHIL, T., WHALE, J., LIOLIOU, G., NOVIKOV, S. V., FOXON, C. T., KENT, A. J. and BARNETT, A. M., 2016. X-ray detection with zinc-blende (cubic) GaN Schottky diodes SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 6,
• SARAH L HEYWOOD, BORIS A GLAVIN, RYAN P BEARDSLEY, ANDREY V AKIMOV, MICHAEL W CARR, JAMES NORMAN, PHILIP C NORTON, BRIAN PRIME, NIGEL PRIESTLEY and ANTHONY J KENT, 2016. Heterodyne mixing of millimetre electromagnetic waves and sub-THz sound in a semiconductor device Scientific Reports. 6, 30396
• NOVIKOV, S. V., STADDON, C. R., MARTIN, R. W., KENT, A. J. and FOXON, C. T., 2015. Molecular beam epitaxy of free-standing wurtzite AlxGa1-xN layers JOURNAL OF CRYSTAL GROWTH. 425, 125-128
• POYSER, C. L., AKIMOV, A. V., BALANOV, A. G., CAMPION, R. P. and KENT, A. J., 2015. A weakly coupled semiconductor superlattice as a harmonic hypersonic-electrical transducer NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. 17,
• POYSER, CAROLINE L., AKIMOV, ANDREY V., CAMPION, RICHARD P. and KENT, ANTHONY J., 2015. Coherent phonon optics in a chip with an electrically controlled active device SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 5,
• HE, CHUAN, GROSSMANN, MARTIN, BRICK, DELIA, SCHUBERT, MARTIN, NOVIKOV, SERGEI V., FOXON, C. THOMAS, GUSEV, VITALYI, KENT, ANTHONY J. and DEKORSY, THOMAS, 2015. Study of confined coherent acoustic phonon modes in a free-standing cubic GaN membrane by femtosecond spectroscopy APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 107(11),
• YOUNG, E. S. K., BOURAVLEUV, A. D., CIRLIN, G. E., DHAKA, V., LIPSANEN, H., TCHERNYCHEVA, M., SCHERBAKOV, A. V., PLATONOV, A. V., AKIMOV, A. V. and KENT, A. J., 2014. Electrical detection of picosecond acoustic pulses in vertical transport devices with nanowires APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 104(6),
• FARMER, D. J., AKIMOV, A. V., GIPPIUS, N. A., BAILEY, J., SHARP, J. S. and KENT, A. J., 2014. High-frequency acousto-optic effects in Bragg reflectors OPTICS EXPRESS. 22(12), 15218-15231
• WAHEEDA, S. N., ZAINAL, N., HASSAN, Z., NOVIKOV, S. V., AKIMOV, A. V. and KENT, A. J., 2014. Low fraction of hexagonal inclusions in thick and bulk cubic GaN layers APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE. 317, 1010-1014
• LEE, S. C., NG, S. S., ABU HASSAN, H., HASSAN, Z., ZAINAL, N., NOVIKOV, S. V., FOXON, C. T. and KENT, A. J., 2014. Polarized infrared reflectance study of free standing cubic GaN grown by molecular beam epitaxy MATERIALS CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS. 146(1-2), 121-128
• NOVIKOV, S. V., POWELL, R. E. L., STADDON, C. R., KENT, A. J. and FOXON, C. T., 2014. Doping of free-standing zinc-blende GaN layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy JOURNAL OF CRYSTAL GROWTH. 403, 43-47
• POWELL, R. E. L., NOVIKOV, S. V., FOXON, C. T., AKIMOV, A. V. and KENT, A. J., 2014. Photoluminescence of magnesium and silicon doped cubic GaN PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI C: CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, VOL 11, NO 3-4. 11(3-4), 385-388
• EUROV, D. A., KURDYUKOV, D. A., STOVPIAGA, E. YU, SALASYUK, A. S., JAGER, J., SCHERBAKOV, A. V., AKIMOV, A. V., KENT, A. J., YAKOVLEV, D. R., BAYER, M. and GOLUBEV, V. G., 2014. Hypersonic properties of monodisperse spherical mesoporous silica particles JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS. 47(33),
• KENT, A. J. and BEARDSLEY, R., 2014. Semiconductor Superlattice Sasers at Terahertz Frequencies: Design, Fabrication and Measurement LENGTH-SCALE DEPENDENT PHONON INTERACTIONS. 128, 227-257
• SHAW, M., YU, K. M., TING, M., POWELL, R. E. L., SARNEY, W. L., SVENSSON, S. P., KENT, A. J., WALUKIEWICZ, W., FOXON, C. T., NOVIKOV, S. V. and MARTIN, R. W., 2014. Composition and optical properties of dilute-Sb GaN1-xSbx highly mismatched alloys grown by MBE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS. 47(46),
• GOFF, L. E., POWELL, R. E. L., KENT, A. J., FOXON, C. T., NOVIKOV, S. V., WEBSTER, R. and CHERNS, D., 2014. Molecular beam epitaxy of InN nanorods on Si- and C-faces of SiC substrates JOURNAL OF CRYSTAL GROWTH. 386, 135-138
• MARYAM, W., AKIMOV, A.V., CAMPION, R.P. and KENT, A.J., 2013. Dynamics of a vertical cavity quantum cascade phonon laser structure Nature Communications. 4(July), 2184
• YOUNG, E.S.K., AKIMOV, A.V., HENINI, M., EAVES, L. and KENT, A.J., 2012. Subterahertz acoustical pumping of electronic charge in a resonant tunneling device Physical Review Letters. 108(22), 226601
• BRUEGGEMANN, C., AKIMOV, A. V., GLAVIN, B. A., BELOTELOV, V. I., AKIMOV, I. A., JAEGER, J., KASTURE, S., GOPAL, A. V., VENGURLEKAR, A. S., YAKOVLEV, D. R., KENT, A. J. and BAYER, M., 2012. Modulation of a surface plasmon-polariton resonance by subterahertz diffracted coherent phonons PHYSICAL REVIEW B. 86(12),
• YOUNG, E. S. K., AKIMOV, A. V., CAMPION, R. P., KENT, A. J. and GUSEV, V., 2012. Picosecond strain pulses generated by a supersonically expanding electron-hole plasma in GaAs PHYSICAL REVIEW B. 86(15),
• CASIRAGHI, A., WALKER, P., AKIMOV, A.V., EDMONDS, K.W., RUSHFORTH, A.W., DE RANIERI, E., CAMPION, R.P., GALLAGHER, B.L. and KENT, A.J., 2011. Fast switching of magnetization in the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)(As,P) using nonequilibrium phonon pulses Applied Physics Letters. 99(26), 262503
• BEARDSLEY, R.P., CAMPION, R.P ., GLAVIN, B.A. and KENT, A.J., 2011. A GaAs/AlAs superlattice as an electrically pumped THz acoustic phonon amplifier New Journal of Physics. 13(07), 073007
• BEARDSLEY, R.P., AKIMOV, A.V., HENINI, M. and KENT, A.J., 2010. Coherent terahertz sound amplification and spectral line narrowing in a stark ladder superlattice Physical Review Letters. 104(8), 085501
• KENT, A.J., KINI, R.N., STANTON, N.M., HENINI, M., GLAVIN, B.A., KOCHELAP, V.A. and LINNIK, T.L., 2006. Acoustic phonon emission from a weakly coupled superlattice under vertical electron transport: observation of phonon resonance Physical Review Letters. 96(21), 215504
• STANTON, N.M. and KENT, A.J., 2006. Propagation of high amplitude strain pulses in sapphire Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 73(22), 220301(R)
• KINI, R.N., KENT, A.J., STANTON, N.M. and HENINI, M., 2006. Generation and detection of terahertz coherent transverse-polarized acoustic phonons by ultrafast optical excitation of GaAs/AlAs superlattices Applied Physics Letters. 88(13), 134112
• MARTINEZ, C.E., STANTON, N.M., WALKER, P.M., KENT, A.J., NOVIKOV, S.V. and FOXON, C.T., 2005. Generation of terahertz monochromatic acoustic phonon pulses by femtosecond optical excitation of a gallium nitride/aluminium nitride superlattice Applied Physics Letters. 86(22), 221915
• KINI, R.N., KENT, A.J., STANTON, N.M. and HENINI, M., 2005. Angle dependence of acoustic phonon-assisted tunneling in a weakly coupled superlattice: Evidence for terahertz phonon amplification Journal of Applied Physics. 98(3), 033514
• KENT, A.J., 2004. Phonon interactions in semiconductor nanostructures Physica Status Solidi B: Basic Research. 241(15), 3439-3447
• STANTON, N.M., KINI, R.N., KENT, A.J. and HENINI, M., 2004. Monochromatic transverse-polarized phonons from femtosecond pulsed optical excitation of a GaAs/AlAs superlattice Physical Review B: Condensed matter and materials physics. 69(12), 125341
• PULIZZI, F., KENT, A. J., PATANE, A., EAVES, L. and HENINI, M., 2004. Carrier kinetics in a high-optically efficient quantum dot structure Semiconductor Science and Technology. VOL 19(NO 4), S282-S284
• STANTON, N.M., KINI, R.N., KENT, A.J., HENINI, M. and LEHMANN, D., 2003. Terahertz phonon optics in GaAs/AlAs superlattice structures Physical Review B: Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. 68(11), 113302
• KENT, A.J., STANTON, N.M., CHALLIS, L.J. and HENINI, M., 2002. Generation and propagation of monochromatic acoustic phonons in gallium arsenide Applied Physics Letters. 81(18), 3497-3499
• LEHMANN, D., KENT, A.J., JASIUKIEWICZ, CZ., CROSS, A.J., HAWKER, P. and HENINI, M., 2002. Effects of acoustic anisotropy and screening on the energy relaxation of hot electrons in heterojunctions and quantum wells Physical Review B: Condensed Matter. 65(8), 085320
• CAVILL, S. A., AKIMOV, A. V., STANTON, N. M., KENT, A. J., NOVIKOV, S. V., HARRISON, I. and FOXON, C. T., 2002. Nonradiative processes and phonon emission in GaAsN alloys Physica B - Physics of Condensed Matter. VOL 316-317, 114-117
• LEHMANN, D., KENT, A. J., STANTON, N. M., AKIMOV, A. V., CAVILL, S. A., JASIUKIEWICZ, C., CHENG, T. S. and FOXON, C. T., 2002. The phonon-drag effect in low mobility gallium nitride epilayers Physica B - Physics of Condensed Matter. VOL 316-317, 110-113
• STANTON, N. M., KENT, A. J., AKIMOV, A. V., HAWKER, P., CHENG, T. S. and FOXON, C. T., 2001. Energy relaxation by hot electrons in n-GaN epilayers Journal of Applied Physics. VOL 89(PART 2), 973-979
• STANTON, N. M., KENT, A. J., CAVILL, S. A., AKIMOV, A. V., LEE, K. J., HARRIS, J. J., WANG, T. and SAKAI, S., 2001. Energy Relaxation by Warm Two-Dimensional Electrons in a GaN/AlGaN Heterostructure Physica Status Solidi B: Basic Research. VOL 228(PART 1/2), 607-611
• STANTON, N. M., AKIMOV, A. V., KENT, A. J., CHENG, T. S. and FOXON, C. T., 2001. Absorption of nonequilibrium acoustic phonons by low-mobility electrons in GaN Applied Physics Letters. VOL 78(PART 8), 1089-1091
• STANTON, N.M., KENT, A.J., HAWKER, P., CHENG, T.S., FOXON, C.T., KORAKAKIS, D., CAMPION, R.P., STADDON, C.R. and MIDDLETON, J.R., 1999. Photoenhanced wet chemical etching of MBE grown gallium nitride Materials Science and Engineering B: Solid-State Materials for Advanced Technology. VOL 68(NUMBER 1), 52 - 55
• SHASHKIN, A. A., KENT, A. J., OWERS-BRADLEY, J. R., CROSS, A. J., HAWKER, P. and HENINI, M., 1997. Hall Photovoltage Imaging of the Edge of a Quantum Hall Device Physical Review Letters. VOL 79(NUMBER 25), 5114-5117
• NOVIKOV, S. V., YU, K. M., LEVANDER, A. X., LILIENTAL-WEBER, Z., DOS REIS, R., KENT, A. J., TSENG, A., DUBON, O. D., WU, J., DENLINGER, J., WALUKIEWICZ, W., LUCKERT, F., EDWARDS, P. R., MARTIN, R. W. and FOXON, C. T., Molecular beam epitaxy of GaN1-xBix alloys with high bismuth content PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI A-APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE. 209(3), 419-423
• POWELL, R. E. L., NOVIKOV, S. V., LUCKERT, F., EDWARDS, P. R., AKIMOV, A. V., FOXON, C. T., MARTIN, R. W. and KENT, A. J., Carrier localization and related photoluminescence in cubic AlGaN epilayers JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS. 110(6),
• NOVIKOV, S. V., STADDON, C. R., FOXON, C. T., LUCKERT, F., EDWARDS, P. R., MARTIN, R. W. and KENT, A. J., Molecular beam epitaxy as a method for the growth of free-standing bulk zinc-blende GaN and AlGaN crystals JOURNAL OF CRYSTAL GROWTH. 323(1), 80-83
• NOVIKOV, S. V., FOXON, C. T. and KENT, A. J., Zinc-blende (cubic) GaN bulk crystals grown by molecular beam epitaxy PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI C: CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, VOL 8, NO 5. 8(5),
• ZAINAL, N., NOVIKOV, S. V., AKIMOV, A. V., STADDON, C. R., FOXON, C. T. and KENT, A. J., Hexagonal (wurtzite) GaN inclusions as a defect in cubic (zinc-blende) GaN PHYSICA B-CONDENSED MATTER. 407(15), 2964-2966
• NOVIKOV, S. V., STADDON, C. R., LUCKERT, F., EDWARDS, P. R., MARTIN, R. W., KENT, A. J. and FOXON, C. T., Zinc-blende and wurtzite AlxGa1-xN bulk crystals grown by molecular beam epitaxy JOURNAL OF CRYSTAL GROWTH. 350(1), 80-84
• NOVIKOV, S. V., STADDON, C. R., POWELL, R. E. L., AKIMOV, A. V., LUCKERT, F., EDWARDS, P. R., MARTIN, R. W., KENT, A. J. and FOXON, C. T., Wurtzite AlxGa1-xN bulk crystals grown by molecular beam epitaxy JOURNAL OF CRYSTAL GROWTH. 322(1), 23-26
• NOVIKOV, S. V., STADDON, C. R., POWELL, R. E. L., AKIMOV, A. V., KENT, A. J. and FOXON, C. T., Plasma-assisted electroepitaxy as a novel method for the growth of GaN layers PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI C: CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, VOL 9, NO 3-4. 9(3-4), 538-541
• YOUNG, E S K, AKIMOV, A V, HENINI, M, EAVES, L and KENT, A J, Subterahertz acoustical pumping of electronic charge in a resonant tunneling device. Physical review letters. 108(22), 226601
• GOFF, LUCY E., FOXON, THOMAS, STADDON, CHRISTOPHER R., KENT, ANTHONY J. and CAMPION, RICHARD P., Anion modulation epitaxy (AME), an alternative growth strategy for group III-nitrides PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI C: CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, VOL 9, NO 3-4. 9(3-4), 530-533
• MOSS, D. M., AKIMOV, A. V., GLAVIN, B. A., HENINI, M. and KENT, A. J., Ultrafast Strain-Induced Current in a GaAs Schottky Diode PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS. 106(6),
• AKIMOV, A. V., YOUNG, E. S. K., SHARP, J. S., GUSEV, V. and KENT, A. J., Coherent hypersonic closed-pipe organ like modes in supported polymer films APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 99(2),
• CASIRAGHI, A., WALKER, P., AKIMOV, A. V., EDMONDS, K. W., RUSHFORTH, A. W., DE RANIERI, E., CAMPION, R. P., GALLAGHER, B. L. and KENT, A. J., Fast switching of magnetization in the ferromagnetic semiconductor (Ga,Mn)(As,P) using nonequilibrium phonon pulses APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS. 99(26),
• MOSS, D., AKIMOV, A. V., CAMPION, R. P., HENINI, M., FOXON, C. T., EAVES, L. and KENT, A. J., Picosecond strain pulses probed by the photocurrent in semiconductor devices with quantum wells PHYSICAL REVIEW B. 83(24),
• MOSS, D., AKIMOV, A. V., GLAVIN, B. A., MAKAROVSKY, O., CAMPION, R. P., HENINI, M., FOXON, C. T., EAVES, L. and KENT, A. J., Ultrafast Acoustic Gating of Photocurrent in Nanodevices With a Quantum Well PHYSICS OF SEMICONDUCTORS: 30TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PHYSICS OF SEMICONDUCTORS. 1399,
• WALKER, P., AKIMOV, A. V., SHARP, J. S. and KENT, A. J., Injection of High-Amplitude Picosecond Acoustic Pulses into Polymer Films CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. 49(1), 506-513
• AKIMOV, A. V., MOSS, D., GLAVIN, B. A., MAKAROVSKY, O., CAMPION, R. P., FOXON, C. T., EAVES, L. and KENT, A. J., Ultrafast Acoustic Gating of Photocurrent in Nanodevices with Quantum Wells CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. 49(1), 133-140
• MOSS, D. M., AKIMOV, A. V., CAMPION, R. P. and KENT, A. J., Ultrafast Strain-Induced Electronic Transport in a GaAs p-n Junction Diode CHINESE JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. 49(1), 499-505