Electron relaxation in metals: Theory and exact analytical solutions

The non-equilibrium dynamics of electrons is of a great experimental and theoretical value providing important microscopic parameters of the Coulomb and electron-phonon interactions in metals and other cold plasmas. Because of the mathematical complexity of collision integrals theories of electron relaxation often rely on the assumption that electrons are in a "quasi-equilibrium" (QE) with a time-dependent temperature, or on the numerical integration of the time-dependent Boltzmann equation. We transform the integral Boltzmann equation to a partial differential Schroedinger-like equation with imaginary time in a one-dimensional "coordinate" space reciprocal to energy which allows for exact analytical solutions in both cases of electron-electron and electron-phonon relaxation. The exact relaxation rates are compared with the QE relaxation rates at high and low temperatures.Comment: Citation list has been extended. The paper is submitted to the Physical Review

Spatial Correlation of Conduction Electrons in Metal with Complicated Geometry Of The Fermi Surface

The "density-density" correlation function of conduction electrons in metal is investigated. It is shown, that the asymptotic behaviour of the CF depends on the shape and the local geometry of the Fermi surface. In particular, the exponent of power law which describes the damping of Friedel oscillations at large r (-4 for an isotropic Fermi gas) is determined by local geometry of the FS. The applications of the obtained results to calculations of the CF in a metal near the electron topological transition and of the RKKY exchange integral are considered as well.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures upon request (to appear in J.Phys.:CM, 1993

Spin-System Radio-Frequency Superradiation: A Phenomenological Study and Comparison with Numeric Simulations

We discuss the coherent behavior of a polarized, nuclear or electron, spin system for which the magnetic dipole radiation emitted in the radio-frequency region, has approximately quadratic dependence on the number of spins. An effective method of describing these phenomena is provided by computer simulation of a microscopic model of the spin system. Important aspects of this numeric simulation are described, together with a comparison with the theoretical predictions. The behavior of the transverse component of the magnetic moment, M+ (t), in super-radiant conditions is studied. In addition, the role of dipole-dipole interactions in super-radiation phenomena is investigated in detail. It is shown that some important features of super-radiation cannot be described with the Bloch equations

Quantum Oscillations of Elastic Moduli and Softening of Phonon Modes in Metals

In this paper we present a theoretical analysis of the effect of magnetostriction on quantum oscillations of elastic constants in metals under strong magnetic fields. It is shown that at low temperatures a significant softening of some acoustic modes could occur near peaks of quantum oscillations of the electron density of states (DOS) at the Fermi surface (FS). This effect is caused by a magnetic instability of a special kind, and it can give rise to a lattice instability. We also show that the most favorable conditions for this instability to be revealed occur in metals whose Fermi surfaces include nearly cylindrical segments.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Evolution of the magnetic phase transition in MnO confined to channel type matrices. Neutron diffraction study

Neutron diffraction studies of antiferromagnetic MnO confined to MCM-41 type matrices with channel diameters 24-87 A demonstrate a continuous magnetic phase transition in contrast to a discontinuous first order transition in the bulk. The character of the magnetic transition transforms with decreasing channel diameter, showing the decreasing critical exponent and transition temperature, however the latter turns out to be above the N\'eel temperature for the bulk. This enhancement is explained within the framework of Landau theory taking into consideration the ternary interaction of the magnetic and associated structural order parameters.Comment: 6 pages pdf file, including 4 figures, uses revtex4.cl

Acoustic Cyclotron Resonance and Giant High Frequency Magnetoacoustic Oscillations in Metals with Locally Flattened Fermi Surface

We consider the effect of local flattening on the Fermi surface (FS) of a metal upon geometric oscillations of the velocity and attenuation of ultrasonic waves in the neighborhood of the acoustic cyclotron resonance. It is shown that such peculiarities of the local geometry of the FS can lead to a significant enhancement of both cyclotron resonance and geometric oscillations. Characteristic features of the coupling of ultrasound to shortwave cyclotron waves arising due to the local flattening of the FS are analyzed. PACS numbers 71.18.+y; 72.15.Gd; 72.15.-vComment: 8 pages, 3 figures, text revise

Smearing of phase transition due to a surface effect or a bulk inhomogeneity in ferroelectric nanostructures

The boundary conditions, customarily used in the Landau-type approach to ferroelectric thin films and nanostructures, have to be modified to take into account that a surface of a ferroelectric (FE) is a defect of the ``field'' type. The surface (interface) field is coupled to a normal component of polarization and, as a result, the second order phase transitions are generally suppressed and anomalies in response are washed out. In FE films with a compositional (grading) or some other type of inhomogeneity, the transition into a monodomain state is suppressed, but a transition with formation of a domain structure may occur.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; the effective bias field is very large, the estimate is adde

Electron-Phonon Coupling in High-Temperature Cuprate Superconductors Determined from Electron Relaxation Rates

We determined electronic relaxation times via pump-probe optical spectroscopy using sub-15 fs pulses for the normal state of two different cuprate superconductors.We show that the primary relaxation process is the electron-phonon interaction and extract a measure of its strength, the second moment of the Eliashberg function\lambda=800\pm200 meV^{2} for La_{1.85}Sr_{0.15}CuO_{4} and \lambda=400\pm100 meV^{2} for YBa_{2}Cu_{3}O_{6.5}. These values suggest a possible fundamental role of the electron-phonon interaction in the superconducting pairing mechanism.Comment: As published in PR

Effects of broadening and electron overheating in tunnel structures based on metallic clusters

We study the influence of energy levels broadening and electron subsystem overheating in island electrode (cluster) on current-voltage characteristics of three-electrode structure. A calculation scheme for broadening effect in one-dimensional case is suggested. Estimation of broadening is performed for electron levels in disc-like and spherical gold clusters. Within the two-temperature model of metallic cluster and by using a size dependence of the Debye frequency the effective electron temperature as a function of bias voltage is found approximately. We suggest that the effects of broadening and electron overheating are responsible for the strong smoothing of current-voltage curves, which is observed experimentally at low temperatures in structures based on clusters consisting of accountable number of atoms.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Quasiparticle relaxation dynamics in heavy fermion compounds

We present the first femtosecond studies of electron-phonon (e-ph) thermalization in heavy fermion compounds. The e-ph thermalization time tau_{ep} increases below the Kondo temperature by more than two orders of magnitude as T = 0 K is approached. Analysis using the two-temperature model and numerical simulations based on Boltzmann's equations suggest that this anomalous slowing down of the e-ph thermalization derives from the large electronic specific heat and the suppresion of scattering between heavy electrons and phonons.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let