Viscous electron fluids

Polini and Geim discuss that advances in materials science have made it possible for electrons in metals to exhibit exotic hydrodynamic effects. Electrons in metals and semiconductors are often naively described as little balls bouncing around, much like atoms or molecules in dilute gases. Originall...

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Published inPhysics today Vol. 73; no. 6; pp. 28 - 34
Main Authors Polini, Marco, Geim, Andre K.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York American Institute of Physics 01.06.2020
Subjects
Electronics industry
Electrons
Fluid mechanics
Gases
Helium
Materials science
Metals
Molecules
Viscosity
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Summary:Polini and Geim discuss that advances in materials science have made it possible for electrons in metals to exhibit exotic hydrodynamic effects. Electrons in metals and semiconductors are often naively described as little balls bouncing around, much like atoms or molecules in dilute gases. Originally came from Lev Landau, who reduced the complex many-body problem to a Fermi gas of nearly free electrons. The theory predicts that viscosity becomes infinite with decreasing temperature T, and simple estimates show that as T drops to that of liquid helium, electron gases in metals should be more viscous than honey.
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ISSN:0031-9228
1945-0699
DOI:10.1063/PT.3.4497