The role of shear waves in electron-phonon relaxation and electrical resistivity of noble metals

Abstract

• Shear waves make a main contribution to the resistivity of noble metals • At low temperatures, it is 95, 91, and 95% for crystals Au, Ag, and Cu, respectively • Results is aligns well with experiment in the temperature range from 10 to 1000 K The influence of elastic energy anisotropy on electron-phonon relaxation and electrical resistivity of noble metals has been studied within the Bloch-Grüneisen theory. Accounting for the influence of elastic anisotropy on spectrum, phonon polarization vectors, and electron relaxation by quasi-transverse modes makes it possible to quantitatively put in agreement the outcomes of calculating the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of noble metals with experimental data in the temperature range from 10 to 1000 K. A constant characterizing the interaction of electrons with shear waves in noble metals has been determined. The role of shear waves in electrical resistivity has been analyzed. It has been shown that the relaxation of electrons by shear waves, which was not previously taken into account, makes a dominant contribution to the electrical resistivity of noble metals in the entire temperature range from 10 to 1000 K. At temperatures well below the Debye temperature, this contribution is 95%, 91%, and 95% of the electrical resistivity for crystals Au, Ag, and Cu, respectively, and at T = 1000 K it decreases to 73%, 44%, and 68%.