Electron thermalization and quantum decoherence in metal nanostructures
Résumé
The long-time dynamics of the electron gas in a thin metal film is studied using a microscopic phase-space model based on the quantum Wigner distribution. The model encompasses all relevant time scales from the femtosecond plasmon oscillations to the phonon-mediated coupling to the ionic lattice, which occurs on a picosecond time scale. The results are in good agreement with phenomenological estimates based on the two-temperature model, and correctly reproduce the main features observed in experiments on small sodium clusters. In particular, a classical relaxation time and a quantum decoherence time emerge naturally from the simulations.
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