Ab initio determination of effective electron-phonon coupling factor in copper

Abstract: The electron temperature dependent electron density of states, Fermi-Dirac distribution, and electron-phonon spectral function are computed as prerequisites before achieving effective electron-phonon coupling factor. The obtained coupling factor is implemented into a molecular dynamics (MD) and two-temperature model (TTM) coupled simulation of femtosecond laser heating. By monitoring temperature evolutions of electron and lattice subsystems, the result utilizing coupling factor from ab initio calculation, shows a faster decrease of electron temperature and increase of lattice temperature than those using coupling factor from phenomenological treatment. The approach of calculating coupling factor and its implementation into MD-TTM simulation is applicable to other metals.