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Hole dynamics in noble metals

I. Campillo·A. Rubio·J. M. Pitarke·A. Goldmann·P. M. Echenique
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Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of hole dynamics in noble metals (Cu and Au), by means of first-principles many-body calculations. While holes in a free-electron gas are known to live shorter than electrons with the same excitation energy, our results indicate that d-holes in noble metals exhibit longer inelastic lifetimes than excited sp-electrons, in agreement with experiment. The density of states available for d-hole decay is larger than that for the decay of excited electrons; however, the small overlap between d- and sp-states below the Fermi level increases the d-hole lifetime. The impact of d-hole dynamics on electron-hole correlation effects, which are of relevance in the analysis of time-resolved two-photon photoemission experiments, is also addressed.

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I. Campillo, A. Rubio, J. M. Pitarke, A. Goldmann, P. M. Echenique. 2000-08-17. Hole dynamics in noble metals. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.85.3241

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