Journal Article

Observation of giant and tunable thermal diffusivity of a Dirac fluid at room temperature

Hesp, Niels C. H., Roche, Stephan, Cummings, Aron W., Taniguchi, Takashi, Principi, Alessandro, Liebel, Matz, Block, Alexander, Tielrooij, Klaas-Jan, Koppens, Frank H. L., van Hulst, Niek F., Watanabe, Kenji

2021

Overview

Conducting materials typically exhibit either diffusive or ballistic charge transport. When electron–electron interactions dominate, a hydrodynamic regime with viscous charge flow emerges 1 – 13 . More stringent conditions eventually yield a quantum-critical Dirac-fluid regime, where electronic heat can flow more efficiently than charge 14 – 22 . However, observing and controlling the flow of electronic heat in the hydrodynamic regime at room temperature has so far remained elusive. Here we observe heat transport in graphene in the diffusive and hydrodynamic regimes, and report a controllable transition to the Dirac-fluid regime at room temperature, using carrier temperature and carrier density as control knobs. We introduce the technique of spatiotemporal thermoelectric microscopy with femtosecond temporal and nanometre spatial resolution, which allows for tracking electronic heat spreading. In the diffusive regime, we find a thermal diffusivity of roughly 2,000 cm 2  s −1 , consistent with charge transport. Moreover, within the hydrodynamic time window before momentum relaxation, we observe heat spreading corresponding to a giant diffusivity up to 70,000 cm 2  s −1 , indicative of a Dirac fluid. Our results offer the possibility of further exploration of these interesting physical phenomena and their potential applications in nanoscale thermal management. Spatiotemporal thermoelectric microscopy enables the observation of electronic heat flow in graphene in diffusive and hydrodynamic regimes at room temperature, as well as a controlled transition from a Fermi liquid to Dirac fluid.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 639/301/1019/584 / 639/301/357/995 / 639/925/918 / Carrier density / Charge transport / Chemistry and Materials Science / Controllability / Diffusivity / Fermi liquids / Graphene / Heat / Heat flow / Heat transmission / Heat transport / Knobs / Letter / Materials Science / Microscopy / Nanotechnology / Nanotechnology and Microengineering / Room temperature / Spatial discrimination / Spatial resolution / Thermal diffusivity / Thermal management / Thermoelectricity / Windows (intervals)