Oscillation of the transport lifetime due to LO phonon scattering in quasi-one-dimensional channels

The transport properties of quantum wires (QW's), mainly under the action of strong magnetic field, have been studied both theoretically and experimentally. In this report we use the memory-function projection-operator theory to obtain the resistivity of a QW built by structural and electric confinement and show that, in the absence of a magnetic field, oscillations in the transport lifetime appear due to scattering by LO phonons. These oscillations describe the harmonic confinement and are weakly dependent on the carrier concentration in the quantum limit. We suggest that this could be an easy way to characterize that structure using dc transport.