Space-time-resolved imaging of undistorted surface phonon distribution and evolution is a crucial tool for studying the interactions between GHz lattice vibrations and matter, as well as structures. In this work, we propose to use microfocused Brillouin light scattering (µBLS) to achieve high-quality space-time-resolved imaging of one- or two-dimensional surface phonon distribution and evolution at a resonant frequency of 1.21 GHz. The µBLS method leverages its ultrasensitivity to detect GHz surface phonons with an input radio-frequency power of only −20 dBm. With excellent performance in spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution, µBLS can effectively observe the tunability and transient spatial evolution of surface phonon distributions when the phase difference of rf signals or the launch pulses from the ports are varied. Our proposed approach is significant for designing and characterizing on-chip phononic devices with versatile functionalities.

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• Acoustic wave phenomena
• Brillouin scattering & spectroscopy
• Phonons
• Quantum information with hybrid systems
• Devices
• Piezoelectrics
• Acoustic techniques
• Surface acoustic wave