Abstract
We calculate the intersubband and intrasubband many-body inelastic Coulomb scattering rates due to electron-electron interaction in two-subband semiconductor quantum wire structures. We analyze our relaxation rates in terms of contributions from inter- and intrasubband charge-density excitations separately. We show that the intersubband (intrasubband) charge-density excitations are primarily responsible for intersubband (intrasubband) inelastic scattering. We identify the contributions to the inelastic-scattering rate coming from the emission of the single-particle and the collective excitations individually. We obtain the lifetime of hot electrons injected in each subband as a function of the total charge density in the wire.
- Received 5 April 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.63.045324
©2001 American Physical Society