We present the first femtosecond studies of electron-phonon (e-ph) thermalization in heavy fermion compounds. The e-ph thermalization time tau_{ep} increases below the Kondo temperature by more than two orders of magnitude as T = 0 K is approached. Analysis using the two-temperature model and numerical simulations based on Boltzmann's equations suggest that this anomalous slowing down of the e-ph thermalization derives from the large electronic specific heat and the suppresion of scattering between heavy electrons and phonons.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0305597,
title = {Quasiparticle relaxation dynamics in heavy fermion compounds},
author = {J. Demsar and R. D. Averitt and K. H. Ahn and M. J. Graf and S. A. Trugman and V. V. Kabanov and J. L. Sarrao and A. J. Taylor},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0305597},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett