Controlling hot-electron thermalization in nanoscale materials

Non-equilibrium energy transfer between hot electrons and phonons plays an important role in the design and operation of photovoltaic and nanoelectronic devices. In this talk, I will show how symmetries in low dimensional materials can impact electron-phonon coupling and the timescale of “hot” electron thermalization. Using a recently-developed first-principles Boltzmann transport equation framework accounting for electron-phonon and phonon-phonon interactions [1], I will show this effect can be used to control hot electron dynamics and phonon bottlenecks for experimentally-synthesized low-dimensional devices. In particular, I will show how such non-equilibrium dynamics can be controlled by external gate potentials.
[1] Sadasivam, Chan, Darancet PRL 119, 136602 (2017)