Dominant phonon wave vectors and strain-induced splitting of the 2D Raman mode of graphene

Abstract

The dominant phonon wave vectors q* probed by the 2D Raman mode of pristine and uniaxially strained graphene are determined via a combination of ab initio calculations and a full two-dimensional integration of the transition matrix. We show that q* are highly anisotropic and rotate about K with the polarizer and analyzer condition relative to the lattice. The corresponding phonon-mediated electronic transitions show a finite component along K-Γ that sensitively determines q*. We invalidate the notion of “inner” and “outer” processes. The characteristic splitting of the 2D mode of graphene under uniaxial tensile strain and given polarizer and analyzer setting is correctly predicted only if the strain-induced distortion and red-shift of the in-plane transverse optical (iTO) phonon dispersion as well as the changes in the electronic band structure are taken into account.