Phonon dispersion and Raman scattering in hexagonal GaN and AlN

We present the results of room- and low-temperature measurements of second-order Raman scattering for perfect GaN and AlN crystals as well as the Raman-scattering data for strongly disordered samples. A complete group-theory analysis of phonon symmetry throughout the Brillouin zone and symmetry behavior of phonon branches, including the analysis of critical points, has been performed. The combined treatment of these results and the lattice dynamical calculations based on the phenomenological interatomic potential model allowed us to obtain the reliable data on the phonon dispersion curves and phonon density-of-states functions in bulk GaN and AlN.