Coherent Phonon Heat Conduction in Superlattices

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1225549
• Publication Date: 2012-11-15T20:00:29Z
• Authors: Maria N. Luckyanova; Jivtesh Garg; Keivan Esfarjani; Adam Jandl; Mayank T. Bulsara; Aaron J. Schmidt; Austin J. Minnich; Shuo Chen; Mildred S. Dresse...; Zhifeng Ren; Eugene A. Fitzgerald; Gang Chen
• Keywords: Heat current

The control of heat conduction through the manipulation phonons as coherent waves in solids is fundamental interest and could also be exploited applications, but has not been experimentally confirmed. We report experimental observation use finite-thickness superlattices with varying numbers periods. measured thermal conductivity increased linearly increasing total superlattice thickness over a temperature range from 30 to 150 kelvin, which consistent phonon process. First-principles Green's function-based simulations further support this transport model. Accessing regime opens new venue for engineering an array applications.