The dynamics of a many-electron system under both dc and infrared fields is separated into a center-of-mass and a relative motion. The first-order force-balance equation is employed for the slow center-of-mass motion of electrons, and the Fokker-Planck equation is used for the ultrafast relative scattering motion of degenerate electrons. This approach allows us to include the anisotropic energy-relaxation process which has been neglected in the energy-balance equation in the past. It also leads us to include the anisotropic coupling to the incident infrared field with different polarizations. Based on this model, the transport of electrons is explored under strong dc and infrared fields by going beyond the relaxation-time approximation. The anisotropic dependence of the electron distribution function on the parallel and perpendicular kinetic energies of electrons is displayed with respect to the dc field direction, and the effect of anisotropic coupling to an incident infrared field with polarizations parallel and perpendicular to the applied dc electric field is shown. The heating of electrons is more accurately described beyond the energy-balance equation with the inclusion of an anisotropic coupling to the infrared field. The drift velocity of electrons is found to increase with the amplitude of the infrared field due to a suppressed momentum-relaxation process (or frictional force) under parallel polarization but decreases with the amplitude due to an enhanced momentum-relaxation process under perpendicular polarization.

• Received 3 September 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.69.075214