Dependence of the electron scattering rate on lattice relaxation in dilute Al alloys

Abstract

Sorbello (see ibid., vol.4, p.1665 (1973)) has recently calculated the impurity-dominated quasiparticle scattering rate in several dilute aluminium alloys. He used the Fermi surface, Fermi velocities, and electronic wavefunctions, that were matched to de Haas-van Alphen data for aluminium. The authors extend this calculation by including the effect of lattice relaxation about the impurity atom using the method of lattice statics to compute the displacement of the neighbouring ions, and use an improved pseudopotential for the impurity ions. It is concluded that the additional scattering caused by relaxation can change both the rate and the scattering anisotropy by about 25%, for magnesium in aluminium.