Fluctuation-driven thermal transport in graphene double-layers at charge neutrality

TL;DR

This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding fluctuation-driven thermal transport in graphene double-layers at charge neutrality, highlighting the roles of electron density fluctuations, drag, and heat transfer.

Contribution

It introduces a new theory describing how thermal fluctuations influence heat transfer and drag in graphene double-layers at charge neutrality, with explicit expressions for thermal conductance and velocity profiles.

Findings

Thermal drag resistance varies with system length.

Perfect thermal drag occurs in longer systems with equal hydrodynamic velocities.

Predictions can be tested with thermal imaging and noise thermometry.

Abstract

We develop a theory of fluctuation-driven phenomena in thermal transport in graphene double-layers. We work in the regime of electron hydrodynamics and focus on the double charge neutrality point. Although at the neutrality point charge transport is decoupled from the hydrodynamic flow, thermal fluctuations of electron density cause both drag and heat transfer between the layers. The thermal transport in the bilayer system is governed by these two phenomena. We express the drag friction coefficient and the interlayer thermal conductivity in terms of the interlayer distance and the intrinsic conductivity of the electron liquid. We then obtain the thermal conductance matrix and determine the spatial dependence of the hydrodynamic velocity and temperature in the system. For shorter system the thermal drag resistance is determined by drag. In longer systems the situation of perfect thermal drag is realized, in which the hydrodynamic velocities in both layers become equal in the interior of the systems. Estimates are given for the monolayer and bilayer graphene devices. The predictions of our theory can be tested by the high-resolution thermal imaging and Johnson-Nyquist nonlocal noise thermometry.