title: Phonon contribution to the lifetime of surface state quasiparticles confined in nanopyramids.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Institut Jean Lamour, UMR 7198, Nancy-Université, B. P. 239 F-54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tournier-Colletta
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kierren
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fagot-Revurat
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malterre