Flexural phonons in supported graphene: from pinning to localization
Abstract
We identify graphene layer on a disordered substrate as a possible system where Anderson localization of phonons can be observed. Generally, observation of localization for scattering waves is not simple, because the Rayleigh scattering is inversely proportional to a high power of wavelength. The situation is radically different for the out of plane vibrations, so-called flexural phonons, scattered by pinning centers induced by a substrate. In this case, the scattering time for vanishing wave vector tends to a finite limit. One may, therefore, expect that physics of the flexural phonons exhibits features characteristic for electron localization in two dimensions, albeit without complications caused by the electron-electron interactions. We confirm this idea by calculating statistical properties of the Anderson localization of flexural phonons for a model of elastic sheet in the presence of the pinning centers. Finally, we discuss possible manifestations of the flexural phonons, including the localized ones, in the electronic thermal conductance.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1712.09608,
title = {Flexural phonons in supported graphene: from pinning to localization},
author = {Wei L. Z. Zhao and Konstantin S. Tikhonov and Alexander M. Finkel'stein},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.09608},
year = {2018}
}