Negative local resistance caused by viscous electron backflow in graphene

Graphene hosts a unique electron system in which electron-phonon scattering is extremely weak but electron-electron collisions are sufficiently frequent to provide local equilibrium above the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Under these conditions, electrons can behave as a viscous liquid and exhibit...

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Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 351; no. 6277; p. 1055
Main Authors: Bandurin, D A, Torre, I, Krishna Kumar, R, Ben Shalom, M, Tomadin, A, Principi, A, Auton, G H, Khestanova, E, Novoselov, K S, Grigorieva, I V, Ponomarenko, L A, Geim, A K, Polini, M
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 04.03.2016
ISSN:1095-9203, 1095-9203
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:Graphene hosts a unique electron system in which electron-phonon scattering is extremely weak but electron-electron collisions are sufficiently frequent to provide local equilibrium above the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Under these conditions, electrons can behave as a viscous liquid and exhibit hydrodynamic phenomena similar to classical liquids. Here we report strong evidence for this transport regime. We found that doped graphene exhibits an anomalous (negative) voltage drop near current-injection contacts, which is attributed to the formation of submicrometer-size whirlpools in the electron flow. The viscosity of graphene's electron liquid is found to be ~0.1 square meters per second, an order of magnitude higher than that of honey, in agreement with many-body theory. Our work demonstrates the possibility of studying electron hydrodynamics using high-quality graphene.
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ISSN:1095-9203
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aad0201