Phonon contribution to the lifetime of surface state quasiparticles confined in nanopyramids.
We present a scanning tunneling microscopy investigation of the dynamics of hot electrons and holes in Ag pyramidal nanostructures. The geometry of the nanostructure leads to a strong reduction of the decay mechanism into the bulk states and then to a large reflection coefficient of the surface electronic waves. Therefore, in contrast to quantum corrals and adatom islands which show a dominant lossy scattering contribution to the linewidth, the narrow observed structures in the differential conductivity spectra reveal the expected linewidth minimum at the Fermi energy. The electron-phonon contribution to the lifetime is shown to be dominant, in agreement with previous photoemission measurements.
Tournier-Colletta
C
C
Institut Jean Lamour, UMR 7198, Nancy-Université, B. P. 239 F-54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
Kierren
B
B
Fagot-Revurat
Y
Y
Malterre
D
D