Para-hydrodynamics from weak surface scattering in ultraclean thin flakes

Autor: Yotam Wolf, Amit Aharon-Steinberg, Binghai Yan, Tobias Holder
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Nature Communications, Vol 14, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2023)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2041-1723
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37966-z
Popis: Abstract Electron hydrodynamics typically emerges in electron fluids with a high electron–electron collision rate. However, new experiments with thin flakes of WTe2 have revealed that other momentum-conserving scattering processes can replace the role of the electron–electron interaction, thereby leading to a novel, so-called para-hydrodynamic regime. Here, we develop the kinetic theory for para-hydrodynamic transport. To this end, we consider a ballistic electron gas in a thin three-dimensional sheet where the momentum-relaxing (lmr) and momentum-conserving (lmc) mean free paths are decreased due to boundary scattering from a rough surface. The resulting effective mean free path of the in-plane components of the electronic flow is then expressed in terms of microscopic parameters of the sheet boundaries, predicting that a para-hydrodynamic regime with lmr ≫ lmc emerges generically in ultraclean three-dimensional materials. Using our approach, we recover the transport properties of WTe2 in the para-hydrodynamic regime in good agreement with existing experiments.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals