Electron interaction with confined acoustic phonons in quantum wires subjected to a magnetic field

Abstract

We have studied the effect of an external magnetic field on electron-acoustic phonon scattering in rectangular quantum wires taking into account both electron and phonon confinement. A magnetic field has two major effects: (i) it dramatically quenches (by several orders of magnitude) intrasubband scattering due to acoustic phonons in hybrid ``width'' and ``thickness'' modes, and (ii) it increases electron interaction with evanescent hybrid surface modes that peak at the wire edges. A simple intuitive picture to elucidate the origin of these effects is presented.