Contribution of inter- and intraband transitions into electron–phonon coupling in metals

Abstract

We recently developed an approach for calculation of the electron–phonon (electron–ion in a more general case) coupling in materials based on tight-binding molecular dynamics simulations. In the present work, we utilize this approach to study partial contributions of inter- and intraband electron scattering events into total electron–phonon coupling in Al, Au, and Cu elemental metals and in AlCu alloy. We demonstrate that the interband scattering plays an important role in the electron–ion energy exchange process in Al and AlCu, whereas intraband d–d transitions are dominant in Au and Cu. Moreover, inter- and intraband transitions exhibit qualitatively different dependencies on the electron temperature. Our findings should be taken into account for the interpretation of experimental results on the electron–phonon coupling parameter. Graphic abstract

Effect of Atomic-Temperature Dependence of the Electron–Phonon Coupling in Two-Temperature Model

“…Extensions of the TTM treating different electronic bands and/or different phonon modes separately, each with its own temperature, result in various multi-temperature approaches [ 13 , 14 ]. Such approaches require even more detailed knowledge of the electron–phonon coupling parameter [ 15 ].…”

Energy Relaxation and Electron–Phonon Coupling in Laser-Excited Metals

“…In fact, a large number of theoretical calculations for this important physical quantity have been implemented under different methods for various metals [ 32 , 33 , 39 , 40 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Nonetheless, from very low electron temperatures(∼300 K) to very high electron temperature (>2000 K), different models provide estimations varying by a factor of two at the least and up to an order of magnitude [ 49 ].…”