Thermal conductivity minimum of graded superlattices due to phonon localization

Abstract

The Anderson localization of thermal phonons has been shown only in few nano-structures with strong random disorder by the exponential decay of transmission to zero and a thermal conductivity maximum when increasing system length. In this work, we present a path to demonstrate the phonon localization with distinctive features in graded superlattices with short-range order and long-range disorder. A thermal conductivity minimum with system length appears due to the exponential decay of transmission to a non-zero constant, which is a feature of partial phonon localization caused by the moderate disorder. We provide clear evidence of localization through the combined analysis of the participation ratio, transmission, and real-space phonon number density distribution based on our quantum transport simulation. The present work would promote heat conduction engineering by localization via the wave nature of phonons.

References in corpus (17)

• Anderson Transitions
• Localization of ultrasound in a three-dimensional elastic network
• Quantum thermal transport in nanostructures
• Minimum Thermal Conductivity of Superlattices
• Nonequilibrium Green's Function Approach to Phonon Transport in Defective Carbon Nanotubes
• Nanophononic metamaterial: Thermal conductivity reduction by local resonance
• Heat conduction tuning using the wave nature of phonons
• Generalized Inverse Participation Ratio as a Possible Measure of Localization for Interacting Systems
• Nano-Cross-Junction Effect on Phonon Transport in Silicon-Nanowire-Cages
• Anharmonic phonon-phonon scattering at interface by non-equilibrium Green's function formalism
• Phonon Transmission Rate, Fluctuations, and Localization in Random Semiconductor Superlattices: Green's Function Approach
• Quantum mechanical modeling of anharmonic phonon-phonon scattering in nanostructures
• Reduced thermal conductivity of TiNiSn/HfNiSn superlattices
• Harmonic vibrational excitations in graded elastic networks: transition from phonons to gradons
• Thermal resistance of GaN/AlN graded interfaces
• Infrared Peak-Splitting from phonon localization in Solid Hydrogen
• Phonon Universal Transmission Fluctuations and Localization in Semiconductor Superlattices with a Controlled Degree of Order

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Atomistic simulation of phonon heat transport across metallic nanogaps
• Blackhole-Inspired Thermal Trapping with Graded Heat-Conduction Metadevices
• Phonon coherence and minimum thermal conductivity in disordered superlattice
• Assessing Phonon Coherence Using Spectroscopy