Brillouin-Mandelstam light scattering (BMS) is the inelastic scattering of the light by thermally excited phonons (or magnons) which offers non-contact and high spatial resolution measurements. The BMS instrument can be used for studying acoustic phonons and magnon close to the Brillouin zone center. Both light scattering from the bulk, i.e. the volume of the sample, via the elasto-optic mechanism and from the surface of the sample, via the surface ripple mechanism can be detected with the BMS instrument.

Raman spectroscopy is an inelastic light scattering technique, which provides information about elemental excitations, e.g. phonons and magnons, in solids and molecules. Raman spectroscopy became crucially important for determining materials’ and nanostructures’ composition, crystal structure, quality, mechanical stress and other characteristics. Professor Balandin and co-workers developed a Raman spectroscopy based method for measuring thermal conductivity of graphene and other 2D materials and thin films. A specially designed Raman Spectroscopy Laboratory – part of Professor Balandin’s Phonon Optimized Engineered Materials (POEM) Center features a unique micro-Raman spectrometer with the low wavenumber capability, several excitation lasers, including UV, and low and high temperature ranges for measurements. A combination of Raman and Brillouin-Mandelstam spectroscopy at POEM Center allows one to investigate phonons and magnons in the entire frequency range from acoustics to optics.