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, 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.

Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials, an Office of Science user facility, was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02- 06CH11357.