Electron-phonon scattering rates in complex polar crystals

The thermalization of fast electrons by phonons is studied in CsI, NaI, SrI2, and YAP. This numerical study uses an improvement to a recently developed ab initio method based on a density functional perturbation theoretical description of the phonon modes that provides a way to go beyond widely used...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2017-09, Vol.96 (10)
Main Authors: Prange, M. P., Campbell, L. W., Kerisit, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The thermalization of fast electrons by phonons is studied in CsI, NaI, SrI2, and YAP. This numerical study uses an improvement to a recently developed ab initio method based on a density functional perturbation theoretical description of the phonon modes that provides a way to go beyond widely used phonon models based on binary crystals. Improvements to this method are described, and scattering rates are presented and discussed. The results here treat polar and nonpolar scattering on equal footing and allow an assessment of the relative importance of the two types of scattering. The relative activity of the numerous phonon modes in materials with complicated structures is discussed, and a simple criterion for finding the modes that scatter strongly is presented.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevB.96.104307