Heat transport by Dirac fermions in normal/superconducting graphene junctions

TL;DR

This paper investigates heat transport in graphene junctions with superconductors, revealing unique oscillatory behavior due to relativistic fermions, contrasting with conventional metal/superconductor systems.

Contribution

It demonstrates the oscillatory dependence of thermal conductance on potential and barrier length in graphene, highlighting the impact of Dirac fermions on heat transport.

Findings

Thermal conductance shows exponential temperature dependence.

Oscillatory dependence on potential height and barrier length.

Relativistic nature of fermions causes unique heat transport features.

Abstract

We study heat transport in normal/superconducting graphene junctions. We find that while the thermal conductance displays the usual exponential dependence on temperature, reflecting the s-wave symmetry of the superconductor, it exhibits an unusual oscillatory dependence on the potential height or the length of the barrier region. This oscillatory dependence stems from the emergent low-energy relativistic nature of fermions in graphene, essentially different from the result in conventional normal metal/superconductor junctions.