Resonant supercollisions and electron-phonon heat transfer in graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong impurities influence heat transfer between electrons and phonons in disordered graphene, revealing a resonant supercollision mechanism and local temperature modifications consistent with recent experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of impurity-assisted electron-phonon heat exchange via resonant supercollisions and maps local temperature profiles around atomic defects in graphene.

Findings

Resonant supercollision mechanism enhances heat transfer in disordered graphene.

Impurities cause local modifications of electron and phonon temperatures.

Results align with experimental imaging of dissipation at atomic defects.

Abstract

We study effects of strong impurities on the heat transfer in a coupled electron-phonon system in disordered graphene. A detailed analysis of the electron-phonon heat exchange assisted by such an impurity through the 'resonant supercollision' mechanism is presented. We further explore the local modification of heat transfer in a weakly disordered graphene due to a resonant scatterer and determine spatial profiles of the phonon and electron temperature around the scatterer under electrical driving. Our results are consistent with recent experimental findings on imaging resonant dissipation from individual atomic defects.