Theory of Electron-Phonon Interactions

Abstract

The theory of the interaction of electrons and acoustic phonons in nonpolar crystals has been formulated in terms of a new set of basis states, whose wave functions are essentially Bloch functions that deform with the lattice. The major part of the interaction may then be calculated in terms of the strain tensor rather than the displacement of the lattice. A result of the theory is a generalization of the deformation potential theorem.