Vibrational relaxation through electron-hole pairs

[thearif333]

TL;DR

How electron-hole pairs play its role in vibrational relaxation on a metal surface ?

When a molecule comes in contact with a metal surface, there are two channels which plays role in vibrational relaxation. One is Phonon channel and the second channel is electron-hole pairs in the metal. I googled it but can't find any literature to properly explain these two mechanism. Do anyone has any understanding of these relaxation processes ? Thanks

 

[Cybertib]

Good evening,

You may also have some emission of photons from the molecule.

Your molecule interacts via Coulomb field with the surface and affects the electron-hole, yes. I think it may be named the Fano problem. It is however, not a dissipative channel.

Concerning the vibration relaxation, I would say that there are several processes.
- we have the phonon -> electron of the solid -> phonon of the metal channel;
- maybe vibration of the molecule -> phonon of the metal directly. But this I am less sure.

Maybe you can precise your question?

Best wishes,
Thibault