Hot carriers in graphene -- fundamentals and applications

TL;DR

This review discusses the unique properties of hot carriers in graphene, their physical phenomena, and their potential applications in optoelectronics, highlighting recent advances and future prospects.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the physics of hot carriers in graphene and explores their emerging applications in optical and optoelectronic technologies.

Findings

Hot carriers in graphene have distinct properties due to its linear dispersion and tunability.

Applications include photodetection, nonlinear photonics, and luminescence.

Graphene-enabled systems could revolutionize data communication and high-frequency electronics.

Abstract

Hot charge carriers in graphene exhibit fascinating physical phenomena, whose understanding has improved greatly over the past decade. They have distinctly different physical properties compared to, for example, hot carriers in conventional metals. This is predominantly the result of graphene's linear energy-momentum dispersion, its phonon properties, its all-interface character, and the tunability of its carrier density down to very small values, and from electron- to hole-doping. Since a few years, we have witnessed an increasing interest in technological applications enabled by hot carriers in graphene. Of particular interest are optical and optoelectronic applications, where hot carriers are used to detect (photodetection), convert (nonlinear photonics), or emit (luminescence) light. Graphene-enabled systems in these application areas could find widespread use and have a disruptive impact, for example in the field of data communication, high-frequency electronics, and industrial quality control. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the most relevant physics and working principles that are relevant for applications exploiting hot carriers in graphene.