No Arabic abstract
We consider electron-phonon (textit{e-ph}) energy loss rate in 3D and 2D multi-component electron systems in semiconductors. We allow general asymmetry in the textit{e-ph} coupling constants (matrix elements), i.e., we allow that the coupling depends on the electron sub-system index. We derive a multi-component textit{e-ph}power loss formula, which takes into account the asymmetric coupling and links the total textit{e-ph} energy loss rate to the density response matrix of the total electron system. We write the density response matrix within mean field approximation, which leads to coexistence of symmetric energy loss rate $F_{S}(T)$ and asymmetric energy loss rate $F_{A}(T)$ with total energy loss rate $ F(T)=F_{S}(T)+F_{A}(T)$ at temperature $T$. The symmetric component F_{S}(T) $ is equivalent to the conventional single-sub-system energy loss rate in the literature, and in the Bloch-Gr{u}neisen limit we reproduce a set of well-known power laws $F_{S}(T)propto T^{n_{S}}$, where the prefactor and power $n_{S}$ depend on electron system dimensionality and electron mean free path. For $F_{A}(T)$ we produce a new set of power laws F_{A}(T)propto T^{n_{A}}$. Screening strongly reduces the symmetric coupling, but the asymmetric coupling is unscreened, provided that the inter-sub-system Coulomb interactions are strong. The lack of screening enhances $F_{A}(T)$ and the total energy loss rate $F(T)$. Especially, in the strong screening limit we find $F_{A}(T)gg F_{S}(T)$. A canonical example of strongly asymmetric textit{e-ph} matrix elements is the deformation potential coupling in many-valley semiconductors.
We report on the effect of elastic intervalley scattering on the energy transport between electrons and phonons in many-valley semiconductors. We derive a general expression for the electron-phonon energy flow rate at the limit where elastic intervalley scattering dominates over diffusion. Electron heating experiments on heavily doped n-type Si samples with electron concentration in the range $3.5-16.0times 10^{25}$ m$^{-3}$ are performed at sub-1 K temperatures. We find a good agreement between the theory and the experiment.
We have measured directly the thermal conductance between electrons and phonons in ultra-thin Hf and Ti films at millikelvin temperatures. The experimental data indicate that electron-phonon coupling in these films is significantly suppressed by disorder. The electron cooling time $tau_epsilon$ follows the $T^{-4}$-dependence with a record-long value $tau_epsilon=25ms$ at $T=0.04K$. The hot-electron detectors of far-infrared radiation, fabricated from such films, are expected to have a very high sensitivity. The noise equivalent power of a detector with the area $1mum^2$ would be $(2-3)10^{-20}W/Hz^{1/2}$, which is two orders of magnitude smaller than that of the state-of-the-art bolometers.
The role of reduced dimensionality and of the surface on electron-phonon (e-ph) coupling in silicon nanowires is determined from first principles. Surface termination and chemistry is found to have a relatively small influence, whereas reduced dimensionality fundamentally alters the behavior of deformation potentials. As a consequence, electron coupling to breathing modes emerges that cannot be described by conventional treatments of e-ph coupling. The consequences for physical properties such as scattering lengths and mobilities are significant: the mobilities for [110] grown wires are 6 times larger than those for [100] wires, an effect that cannot be predicted without the form we find for Si nanowire deformation potentials.
We demonstrate significant modification of the electron-phonon energy loss rate in a many-valley semiconductor system due to lattice mismatch induced strain. We show that the thermal conductance from the electron system to the phonon bath in strained n + Si, at phonon temperatures between 200 mK and 450 mK, is more than an order of magnitude lower than that for a similar unstrained sample.
Understanding the physics of strongly correlated electronic systems has been a central issue in condensed matter physics for decades. In transition metal oxides, strong correlations characteristic of narrow $d$ bands is at the origin of such remarkable properties as the Mott gap opening, enhanced effective mass, and anomalous vibronic coupling, to mention a few. SrVO$_3$, with V$^{4+}$ in a $3d^1$ electronic configuration is the simplest example of a 3D correlated metallic electronic system. Here, we focus on the observation of a (roughly) quadratic temperature dependence of the inverse electron mobility of this seemingly simple system, which is an intriguing property shared by other metallic oxides. The systematic analysis of electronic transport in SrVO$_3$ thin films discloses the limitations of the simplest picture of e-e correlations in a Fermi liquid; instead, we show that the quasi-2D topology of the Fermi surface and a strong electron-phonon coupling, contributing to dress carriers with a phonon cloud, play a pivotal role on the reported electron spectroscopic, optical, thermodynamic and transport data. The picture that emerges is not restricted to SrVO$_3$ but can be shared with other $3d$ and $4d$ metallic oxides.