Phonon dispersion of graphite

The phonon dispersion of graphite was determined by inelastic X‐ray scattering along the Γ‐K, K‐M, and Γ‐K direction. In contrast to many predictions, the dispersion of the transverse branch is large, leading to a minimum at the K point. We present ab initio calculations which agree very well with the experiment. The minimum of the transverse branch at the K point is due to a strong electron‐phonon coupling for this phonon. This coupling dominates the scattering mechanism in both electronic transport and Raman scattering.