Signatures of hydrodynamic transport in an electron system

Electrons in strongly-correlated systems move in a neatly coordinated manner, in many ways resembling the movement of viscous fluids and leading to surprising collective behaviors. Here we explore how the hydrodynamic behavior manifests itself in the electron transport through nanoscale constrictions. Free electron flows through constrictions in metals are often regarded as an ultimate high-conduction charge transfer mechanism. However, as shown in this thesis, interactions can facilitate transport and give rise to super-ballistic conduction, allowing conductance to exceed the ballistic limit value. In other words, interactions and viscous effects, rather than presenting a hindrance for conduction, help increase carrier mobility and suppress dissipation. This interesting behavior represents a clear signature of the electron hydrodynamic regime, and provides a way to determine electron viscosity. These results show that interactions and viscous effects can facilitate high-mobility transport, granting a new route for designing low-power nanoscale devices.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Guo, Haoyu, S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Leonid S. Levitov.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/120221

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/120221