Valley hydrodynamics in gapped graphene

Abstract

Recent experiments have revealed that novel nonequilibrium states consistent with the hydrodynamic description of electrons are realized in ultrapure graphene, which hosts the valley degrees of freedom. Here, we formulate a theory of electron hydrodynamics including dissipation processes of the valley angular momentum by employing the concept of micropolar fluids. As a result, our theory proposes a novel strategy to generate a valley polarization by the microrotation. We uncover that the rotational viscosity induces longitudinal valley currents which are second order in electric fields.