Hot carriers (HC) generated by surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in noble metals are promising for application in optoelectronics, plasmonics and renewable energy. However, existing models fail to explain key quantitative details of SPP-to-HC conversion experiments. Here we develop a quantum mechanical framework and apply first-principles calculations to study the energy distribution and scattering processes of HCs generated by SPPs in Au and Ag. We find that the relative positions of the s and d bands of noble metals regulate the energy distribution and mean free path of the HCs, and that the electron-phonon interaction controls HC energy loss and transport. Our results prescribe optimal conditions for HC generation and extraction, and invalidate previously employed free-electron-like models. Our work combines density functional theory, GW and electron-phonon calculations to provide microscopic insight into HC generation and ultrafast dynamics in noble metals.

Nonequilibrium dynamics governed by electron–phonon (e-ph) interactions plays a key role in electronic devices and spectroscopies and is central to understanding electronic excitations in materials. The real-time Boltzmann transport equation (rt-BTE) with collision processes computed from first principles can describe the coupled dynamics of electrons and atomic vibrations (phonons). Yet, a bottleneck of these simulations is the calculation of e–ph scattering integrals on dense momentum grids at each time step. Here we show a data-driven approach based on dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) that can accelerate the time propagation of the rt-BTE and identify dominant electronic processes. We apply this approach to two case studies, high-field charge transport and ultrafast excited electron relaxation. In both cases, simulating only a short time window of ~10% of the dynamics suffices to predict the dynamics from initial excitation to steady state using DMD extrapolation. Analysis of the momentum-space modes extracted from DMD sheds light on the microscopic mechanisms governing electron relaxation to a steady state or equilibrium. The combination of accuracy and efficiency makes our DMD-based method a valuable tool for investigating ultrafast dynamics in a wide range of materials.

Hot carrier dynamics critically impacts the performance of electronic, optoelectronic, photovoltaic, and plasmonic devices. Hot carriers lose energy over nanometer lengths and picosecond timescales and thus are challenging to study experimentally, whereas calculations of hot carrier dynamics are cumbersome and dominated by empirical approaches. In this work, we present ab initio calculations of hot electrons in gallium arsenide (GaAs) using density functional theory and many-body perturbation theory. Our computed electron-phonon relaxation times at the onset of the Γ, L, and X valleys are in excellent agreement with ultrafast optical experiments and show that the ultrafast (tens of femtoseconds) hot electron decay times observed experimentally arise from electron-phonon scattering. This result is an important advance to resolve a controversy on hot electron cooling in GaAs. We further find that, contrary to common notions, all optical and acoustic modes contribute substantially to electron-phonon scattering, with a dominant contribution from transverse acoustic modes. This work provides definitive microscopic insight into hot electrons in GaAs and enables accurate ab initio computation of hot carriers in advanced materials.

Methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPbI₃) exhibits long charge carrier lifetimes that are linked to its high efficiency in solar cells. Yet, the mechanisms governing these unusual carrier dynamics are not completely understood. A leading hypothesis-disproved in this work-is that a large, static bulk Rashba effect slows down carrier recombination. Here, using second harmonic generation rotational anisotropy measurements on MAPbI₃ crystals, we demonstrate that the bulk structure of tetragonal MAPbI₃ is centrosymmetric with I4/mcm space group. Our calculations show that a significant Rashba splitting in the bandstructure requires a non-centrosymmetric lead iodide framework, and that incorrect structural relaxations are responsible for the previously predicted large Rashba effect. The small Rashba splitting allows us to compute effective masses in excellent agreement with experiment. Our findings rule out the presence of a large static Rashba effect in bulk MAPbI₃, and our measurements find no evidence of dynamic Rashba effects.