Electronic conductivity in anharmonic crystals: Phonon dephasing in the electron-phonon interaction
Abstract
The electron-phonon interaction underpins many material properties, for example, the conductivity of metals and the optoelectronic response of semiconductors. First-principles calculations of the electron-phonon interaction are a powerful tool to quantitatively describe many of these properties in increasingly complex materials. However, one key assumption of all calculations is that phonons have infinite lifetimes, an approximation that may break down when anharmonic phonon-phonon interactions are strong. In this work, we present a theory for the interaction of electrons with finite-lifetime phonons experiencing dephasing. Using a first-principles implementation of the theory, we find that anharmonic dephasing dramatically enhances electron-phonon scattering rates in metallic MgB2. Microscopically, phonon-phonon interactions create new scattering channels that increase the phase space available for electron-phonon scattering. As a result, anharmonic dephasing strongly suppresses conductivity in MgB2, bringing the calculated values substantially closer to experiment within the Boltzmann transport equation framework. This example establishes the importance of finite phonon lifetimes in the evaluation of electron-phonon scattering, and the microscopic mechanism suggests that anharmonic dephasing could play an important role in the conductivity of many metals. More broadly, our theory and first-principles implementation of anharmonic dephasing in the electron-phonon interaction provides a solid foundation to explore this regime in other materials.
Versions
Related
- Anharmonic dephasing in the electron-phonon interaction
- Local Dephasing Sustains Continuous Time Crystals in a Spin-1/2 Ensemble
- Interactions Protect Periodically Driven Time Crystals Against Dephasing but Destabilise Multipolar-Driven Order
- Structured light for addressable two-qubit gates in medium-sized ion crystals: modeling motional and dephasing errors
- Detection Defines Dephasing in Two-Dimensional Electronic Spectroscopy of Materials: Coherent Field Emission versus Incoherent Population Observables
BibTeX
@misc{kong2026electronic,
title = {{Electronic conductivity in anharmonic crystals: Phonon dephasing in the electron-phonon interaction}},
author = {Mingran Kong and Bartomeu Monserrat},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.09050},
eprint = {2608.09050},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.09050},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Electronic conductivity in anharmonic crystals: Phonon dephasing in the electron-phonon interaction
AU - Mingran Kong
AU - Bartomeu Monserrat
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.09050
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.09050
AB - The electron-phonon interaction underpins many material properties, for example, the conductivity of metals and the optoelectronic response of semiconductors. First-principles calculations of the electron-phonon interaction are a powerful tool to quantitatively describe many of these properties in increasingly complex materials. However, one key assumption of all calculations is that phonons have infinite lifetimes, an approximation that may break down when anharmonic phonon-phonon interactions are strong. In this work, we present a theory for the interaction of electrons with finite-lifetime phonons experiencing dephasing. Using a first-principles implementation of the theory, we find that anharmonic dephasing dramatically enhances electron-phonon scattering rates in metallic MgB2. Microscopically, phonon-phonon interactions create new scattering channels that increase the phase space available for electron-phonon scattering. As a result, anharmonic dephasing strongly suppresses conductivity in MgB2, bringing the calculated values substantially closer to experiment within the Boltzmann transport equation framework. This example establishes the importance of finite phonon lifetimes in the evaluation of electron-phonon scattering, and the microscopic mechanism suggests that anharmonic dephasing could play an important role in the conductivity of many metals. More broadly, our theory and first-principles implementation of anharmonic dephasing in the electron-phonon interaction provides a solid foundation to explore this regime in other materials.
ER -