Mode conversion and the electron-phonon distribution in nonequilibrium metal films

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Abstract
We present a model to describe the phonon distribution injected into a solid from a heated metal film in which spontaneous phonon decay is present. The phonon-decay processes are shown to have three main effects: First, after excitation of the metal film the characteristic temperature of the electron distribution is lower than predicted by other models; secondly, the high-frequency component of the longitudinal-phonon spectrum is attenuated; and thirdly, a nonequilibrium transverse-phonon spectrum is generated. We discuss the dependence of these effects on the electric field applied to the film and show that the results are consistent with the available experimental data.

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