Local Shannon entropy lies at the heart of modern thermodynamics, with much discussion of trajectory-dependent entropy production. When taken at both boundaries of a process in phase space, it reproduces the second law of thermodynamics over a finite time interval for small scale systems. However, given that entropy is an ensemble property, it has never been clear how one can assign such a quan...

Localized energy exchange and mechanical coupling across a few nm gap at a corrugated graphene-substrate interface remain great challenges to study. In this work, an infrared laser is used to excite an unconstrained epitaxial graphene/SiC interface to induce a local thermal non-equilibrium. The interface behavior is uncovered using a second laser beam for Raman excitation. Using Raman peaks for...