Surface phonon

Abstract: A collaboration of researchers from Japan and France present a comprehensive study of phonon lifetimes and thermal conductivity for 33 zincblende- and wurtzite compounds using linearized phonon Boltzmann equation and first-principles anharmonic phonon calculations. The software that the authors created for this study will be released as an open source package and should be of help in the search of new materials for thermoelectric applications.

Abstract: We investigated theoretically the phonon thermal conductivity of single-layer graphene. The phonon dispersion for all polarizations and crystallographic directions in graphene lattice was obtained using the valence-force field method. The three-phonon Umklapp processes were treated exactly using an accurate phonon dispersion and Brillouin zone, and accounting for all phonon relaxation channels allowed by the momentum and energy conservation laws. The uniqueness of graphene was reflected in the two-dimensional phonon density of states and restrictions on the phonon Umklapp scattering phase-space. The phonon scattering on defects and graphene edges has also been included in the model. The calculations were performed for the Gruneisen parameter, which was determined from the ab initio theory as a function of the phonon wave vector and polarization branch, and for a range of values from experiments. It was found that the near room-temperature thermal conductivity of single-layer graphene, calculated with a realistic Gruneisen parameter, is in the range $\ensuremath{\sim}2000--5000\text{ }\text{W}/\text{mK}$ depending on the flake width, defect concentration and roughness of the edges. Owing to the long phonon mean free path the graphene edges produce strong effect on thermal conductivity even at room temperature. The obtained results are in good agreement with the recent measurements of the thermal conductivity of suspended graphene.

Abstract: Surface phonon polaritons are electromagnetic waves that propagate along the interfaces of polar dielectrics and exhibit a large local-field enhancement near the interfaces at infrared frequencies. Theoretical calculations show that such surface waves can lead to breakdown of the Planck’s blackbody radiation law in the near field. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that surface phonon polaritons dramatically enhance energy transfer between two surfaces at small gaps by measuring radiation heat transfer between a microsphere and a flat surface down to 30 nm separation. The corresponding heat transfer coefficients at nanoscale gaps are 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of the blackbody radiation limit. The high energy flux can be exploited to develop new radiative cooling and thermophotovoltaic technologies.

Abstract: All material bodies are surrounded by a fluctuating electromagnetic field because of the thermal and quantum fluctuations of the current density inside them. Close to the surface of planar sources (when the distance $d⪡{\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{T}=c\ensuremath{\hbar}∕{k}_{B}T$), thermal radiation can be spatially and temporally coherent if the surface can support surface modes like surface plasmon polaritons, surface phonon polaritons, or adsorbate vibrational modes. The fluctuating field is responsible for important phenomena such as radiative heat transfer, the van der Waals interaction, and the van der Waals friction between bodies. A general formalism for the calculation of the power spectral density for the fluctuating electromagnetic field is presented and applied to the radiative heat transfer and the van der Waals friction using both the semiclassical theory of the fluctuating electromagnetic field and quantum field theory. The radiative heat transfer and the van der Waals friction are greatly enhanced at short separations $(d⪡{\ensuremath{\lambda}}_{T})$ between the bodies due to the evanescent electromagnetic waves. Particularly strong enhancement occurs if the surface of the body can support localized surface modes like surface plasmons, surface polaritons, or adsorbate vibrational modes. An electromagnetic field outside a moving body can also be created by static charges which are always present on the surface of the body due to inhomogeneities, or due to a bias voltage. This electromagnetic field produces electrostatic friction which can be greatly enhanced if on the surface of the body there is a two-dimensional electron or hole system, or an incommensurate adsorbed layer of ions exhibiting acoustic vibrations. Applications of radiative heat transfer and noncontact friction to scanning probe spectroscopy are discussed. The theory gives a tentative explanation for the experimental noncontact friction data.