The boundary conditions of viscous electron flow

Abstract

The sensitivity of charge, heat, or momentum transport to the sample geometry is a hallmark of viscous electron flow. Therefore, hydrodynamic electronics requires the detailed understanding of electron flow in finite geometries. The solution of the corresponding generalized Navier-Stokes equations depends sensitively on the nature of boundary conditions. The latter are generally characterized by a slip length $ζ$ with extreme cases being no-slip $\left(ζ\rightarrow0\right)$ and no-stress $\left(ζ\rightarrow\infty\right)$ conditions. We develop a kinetic theory that determines the temperature dependent slip length at a rough interface for Dirac liquids, e.g. graphene, and for Fermi liquids. For strongly disordered edges that scatter electrons in a fully diffuse way, we find that the slip length is of the order of the momentum conserving mean free path $l_{ee}$ that determines the electron viscosity. For boundaries with nearly specular scattering $ζ$ is parametrically large compared to $l_{ee}$. Since for all quantum fluids $l_{ee}$ diverges as $T\rightarrow0$, the ultimate low-temperature flow is always in the no-stress regime. Only at intermediate $T$ and for sufficiently large sample sizes can the slip lengths be short enough such that no-slip conditions are appropriate. We discuss numerical examples for several experimentally investigated systems.