Acoustic-phonon dispersion in nanowires

We study phonon dispersion in layered prismatic nanowires that can have an arbitrary cross-sectional geometry. We calculate phonon dispersion using a hybrid analytical/numerical approach that models propagation along the wire analytically, but deformation in the plane of the cross section using the finite element method. In our results we consider only two layers, but the calculational approach is applicable to multiple layers. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.