Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / Paper 2 / Section C / C10 / Coupled-chain equations and dispersion relation

Put type-A atoms at $2ja$ and type-B atoms at $(2j+1)a$. Their displacements $u_j,v_j$ obey Newton's second law,Choose normal modes $u_j=U{e}^{i(2jaq-\omega t)}$ and $v_j=V{e}^{i((2j+1)aq-\omega t)}$. Substitution givesA nonzero displacement vector requires zero determinant:Solving this quadratic in ${\omega }^2$ gives the diatomic-chain dispersion relation with equal springs,The primitive unit cell has length $2a$, so the first Brillouin zone is $|q|\le \pi /(2a)$.