Low-dimensional heat conduction in surface phonon polariton waveguide

Yu Pei; Li Chen; Wonjae Jeon; Zhaowei Liu; Renkun Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-43736-8

Low-dimensional heat conduction in surface phonon polariton waveguide

Nat Commun. 2023 Dec 12;14(1):8242. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43736-8.

Authors

Yu Pei^#¹, Li Chen^#^{2

3}, Wonjae Jeon^#¹, Zhaowei Liu^{4

5}, Renkun Chen^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0411, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0407, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
³ Program in Materials Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0418, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
⁴ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0407, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. zhaowei@ucsd.edu.
⁵ Program in Materials Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0418, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. zhaowei@ucsd.edu.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0411, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. rkchen@ucsd.edu.
⁷ Program in Materials Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0418, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. rkchen@ucsd.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Heat conduction in solids is typically governed by the Fourier's law describing a diffusion process due to the short wavelength and mean free path for phonons and electrons. Surface phonon polaritons couple thermal photons and optical phonons at the surface of polar dielectrics, possessing much longer wavelength and propagation length, representing an excellent candidate to support extraordinary heat transfer. Here, we realize clear observation of thermal conductivity mediated by surface phonon polaritons in SiO₂ nanoribbon waveguides of 20-50 nm thick and 1-10 μm wide and also show non-Fourier behavior in over 50-100 μm distance at room and high temperature. This is enabled by rational design of the waveguide to control the mode size of the surface phonon polaritons and its efficient coupling to thermal reservoirs. Our work laid the foundation for manipulating heat conduction beyond the traditional limit via surface phonon polaritons waves in solids.

Abstract

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