Energy and charge trapping by localized vibrations: Electron-vibrational coupling in anharmonic lattices.

Abstract

We study the time dependence of the energy redistribution between an initially localized electron and the vibrations of a one-dimensional anharmonic lattice. Numerical solutions show the periodic electron-lattice energy exchange, in contrast to the usual irreversible gradual decrease of the electronic energy. This energy trapping is shown to occur due to the appearance of localized vibrations, induced by strong enough electron-vibrational coupling in the anharmonic lattice. For these strong-coupling situations, we observed both localized (trapped) and conductive electronic charge.