Heating of inhomogeneous electron flow in the hydrodynamic regime

TL;DR

This paper investigates how inhomogeneities and viscosity affect electron temperature profiles in hydrodynamic electron flow, revealing universal features and conditions for hot spot formation.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of temperature profiles in inhomogeneous hydrodynamic electron flow, highlighting the effects of viscosity and inhomogeneity on temperature distribution.

Findings

Landauer-dipole-like temperature distribution in absence of viscosity

Viscosity suppresses the Landauer dipole and creates a hot spot at the constriction center

Temperature profiles are universal across different dimensions

Abstract

We study the electron temperature profiles for an inhomogeneous electron flow in the hydrodynamic regime. We assume that the inhomogeneity is due to a weakly non-uniform distribution of the momentum relaxation time within a spherically constricted area. We show that the temperature profile dramatically depends on the drive strength and the viscosity of the electron liquid. In the absence of viscosity, a Landauer-dipole-like temperature distribution, asymmetrically deformed along the current by the inelastic electron-phonon scattering, emerges around the inhomogeneity. We find that both the Landauer-dipole temperature profile and its asymmetry in the direction of the driving electric field exist in all dimensionalities and are, therefore, universal features of inhomogeneous hydrodynamic electron flow. We further demonstrate that the electron viscosity suppresses the thermal Landauer dipole and leads to the appearance of a "hot spot" exactly at the center of the constriction. We also calculate the phonon temperature distribution, which can be directly measured in experiments on thermal nanoimaging.