Phonon-assisted absorption of hypersound in a rectangular quantum wire

Abstract

The mechanisms of the Landau-Rumer process and of the process of two-phonon decay of microwave phonons are considered for a rectangular quantum wire. For GaAs wires with a free surface and various transverse dimensions, the coefficients of absorption of confined microwave phonons of the lowest hybrid width mode are calculated. The phononic and electronic mechanisms of hypersound absorption in rectangular wires and unbounded solids are compared. At low temperatures, the inclusion of cubic anharmonicity in a wire leads to an exponential temperature dependence of the hypersound absorption for the Landau-Rumer process and to the dominant absorption due to decay processes; in the latter case, the exponent of the frequency dependence decreases. At sufficiently high temperatures, the phonon-assisted absorption dominates over the electron-assisted absorption in a quantum wire of a nondegenerate material.