Super-Planckian Electron Cooling in a van der Waals Stack

2016/08/04 by Alessandro Principi, Mark B. Lundeberg, Niels C. H. Hesp +4 · 54 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Boltzmann constant #Condensed matter physics #Electron #Graphene #Hexagonal boron nitride #Materials science #Molecular physics #Phonon #Physics #Picosecond #Polariton #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #Radiative cooling #Radiative transfer #Stack (abstract data type) #Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.mes-hall #van der Waals force

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.118.126804

published in Physical Review Letters 118(12), 126804 (American Physical Society) · 7 pages, 4 multi-panel figures

arxiv created 2016/08/04 · openalex created_date 2016/08/23 · openalex publication_date 2017/03/24 · arxiv updated 2017/03/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Radiative heat transfer (RHT) between macroscopic bodies at separations that are much smaller than the thermal wavelength is ruled by evanescent electromagnetic modes and can be orders of magnitude more efficient than its far-field counterpart, which is described by the Stefan-Boltzmann law. In this Letter, we present a microscopic theory of RHT in van der Waals stacks comprising graphene and a natural hyperbolic material, i.e., hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). We demonstrate that RHT between hot carriers in graphene and hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hBN is extremely efficient at room temperature, leading to picosecond time scales for the carrier cooling dynamics.

Citations

• Dielectric function, screening, and plasmons in two-dimensional graphene
• Fluctuation-electrodynamic theory and dynamics of heat transfer in systems of multiple dipoles
• Accessing Phonon Polaritons in Hyperbolic Crystals by Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy
• The general theory of van der Waals forces
• Statistical-Mechanical Theory of Irreversible Processes. I. General Theory and Simple Applications to Magnetic and Conduction Problems
• Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer between Macroscopic Planar Surfaces
• La lectura de los escolares de Ciudad Real: disparidad de percepciones
• Cooling of photoexcited carriers in graphene by internal and substrate phonons

Cited by

• A graphene Zener–Klein transistor cooled by a hyperbolic substrate
• Interfacial Heat Transport via Evanescent Radiation by Hot Electrons