# Effect of resonant impurity scattering of carriers on Drude peak broadening in uniaxially strained graphene

## TL;DR

This paper explains the significant broadening of the Drude peak in strained graphene as a result of resonant impurity scattering, emphasizing the role of the scalar deformation potential and Fano-Anderson model.

## Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model linking uniaxial strain and impurity scattering to Drude peak broadening in graphene, highlighting the importance of the scalar deformation potential.

## Key findings

- Resonant impurity scattering causes Drude peak broadening.
- Scalar deformation potential is crucial in the scattering process.
- Maximal broadening occurs near the Dirac point.

## Abstract

An explanation is proposed for the recently observed in optical spectra of monolayer graphene giant increase in the Drude peak width under applied uniaxial strain. We argue that the underlying mechanism of this increase can be based on resonant scattering of carriers from inevitably present impurities such as adsorbed atoms that can be described by the Fano-Anderson model. We demonstrate that the often neglected scalar deformation potential plays the essential role in this process. The conditions necessary for the maximum effect of the giant Drude peak broadening are determined. It is stressed that the effect is strongly enhanced when the Fermi level gets closer to the Dirac point. Our theoretical analysis provides guidelines for functionalizing graphene samples in a way that would allow to modulate efficiently the Drude peak width by the applied strain.