Weak electron-phonon coupling in the early alkali atomic wires
arXiv:1408.3031 · doi:10.1016/j.physe.2014.10.025
Abstract
The structural, electronic and vibrational properties of atomic wires composed of the early alkali metals lithium and sodium are studied using density functional perturbation theory. The s-like electronic states near the Fermi level couple very weakly to longitudinal acoustic phonons and not at all to the transverse acoustic phonons, which results in a weak overall electron-phonon coupling. The results are compared to earlier studies on the electron-phonon coupling in metallic atomic wires and reinforces the idea that s-like states at the Fermi level give rise to weak electron-phonon coupling in one-dimension, in contrast with materials containing d-like states at the Fermi level which have correspondingly larger electron-phonon coupling due to interactions with transverse phonons.
4 pages, 3 figures