Phonon localization in heat conduction
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States). Materials Dept.
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source; Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China). National Synchrotron Radiation Lab.
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Dept.
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Science
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Dept. of Physics
Nondiffusive phonon thermal transport, extensively observed in nanostructures, has largely been attributed to classical size effects, ignoring the wave nature of phonons. We report localization behavior in phonon heat conduction due to multiple scattering and interference events of broadband phonons, by measuring the thermal conductivities of GaAs/AlAs superlattices with ErAs nanodots randomly distributed at the interfaces. With an increasing number of superlattice periods, the measured thermal conductivities near room temperature increased and eventually saturated, indicating a transition from ballistic to diffusive transport. In contrast, at cryogenic temperatures the thermal conductivities first increased but then decreased, signaling phonon wave localization, as supported by atomistic Greenşs function simulations. The discovery of phonon localization suggests a new path forward for engineering phonon thermal transport.
- Research Organization:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Energy Efficient Materials (CEEM). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; SC0012704; SC0001299; SC0001009; AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1511938
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1491683; OSTI ID: 1504458
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-210909-2019-JAAM
- Journal Information:
- Science Advances, Vol. 4, Issue 12; ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- AAASCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Similar Records
Signature of Many-Body Localization of Phonons in Strongly Disordered Superlattices
Recent Developments in Semiconductor Thermoelectric Physics and Materials