Hot carrier and hot phonon coupling during ultrafast relaxation of photoexcited electrons in graphene

Abstract

[EN]We study, by means of a Monte Carlo simulator, the hot phonon effect on the relaxation dynamics in photoexcited graphene and its quantitative impact as compared to considering an equilibrium phonon distribution. Our multi-particle approach indicates that neglecting the hot phonon effect significantly underestimates the relaxation times in photoexcited graphene. The hot phonon effect is more important for a higher energy of the excitation pulse and photocarrier densities between 1 and 3x10^12 cm^-2. Acoustic intervalley phonons play a non-negligible role, and emitted phonons with wavelengths limited up by a maximum (determined by the carrier concentration) induce a slower carrier cooling rate. [EN]Intrinsic phonon heating is damped in graphene on a substrate due to additional cooling pathways, with the hot phonon effect showing a strong inverse dependence with the carrier density.