A theoretical study is made of the photoconductivity of hot photoelectrons interacting with acoustic phonons in n-type germanium at low temperature, T = 4 K, when the equipartition of the energy of phonons is not obeyed. Assuming that the energy relaxation of photoelectrons takes place by the spontaneous emission of acoustic phonons, the energy distribution of photoelectrons is obtained using the deformation potential scattering by acoustic phonons for the zero point lattice. The distribution function is then used in calculating the photoconductivity and average lifetime of photoelectrons. New temperature dependences of the photoconductivity and average lifetime arc obtained. It is shown that the new results differ from those reported when equipartition is obeyed.
Theoretical study of transition radiation from hot electrons generated in the laser–solid interaction