Electron–optical-phonon scattering in wurtzite crystals

Abstract

We present Fr\"ohlich-like electron--optical-phonon interaction Hamiltonian for wurtzite crystals in the long-wavelength limit based on the macroscopic dielectric continuum model and the uniaxial model. In general, the optical-phonon branches support mixed longitudinal and transverse modes due to the anisotropy. We calculate electron scattering rate due to the optical phonons in the bulk wurtzite GaN and demonstrate that the scattering rate due to transverselike phonon processes can be strongly enhanced over a range of angles with respect to the $c$ axis. For the case of longitudinal-like modes, the anisotropy is small and the result is almost the same as that obtained with the cubic Fr\"ohlich Hamiltonian.