Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published February 7, 2019 | Published
Journal Article Open

Ab initio based investigation of thermal transport in superlattices using the Boltzmann equation: Assessing the role of phonon coherence

Abstract

The role of the coherent interference of phonons on thermal transport in artificial materials such as superlattices is of intense interest. Recent experimental studies report a non-monotonic trend in thermal conductivity with interface density which is attributed to band-folding of thermal phonons. Various models have been proposed to interpret these measurements, but most make simplifying assumptions that make definitively attributing the trends to the coherent transport difficult. Here, we investigate thermal transport in superlattices in the incoherent limit using the Boltzmann equation with intrinsic phonon dispersions and lifetimes calculated from first-principles. We find that the Boltzmann equation is unable to predict the non-monotonic behavior of thermal conductivity versus superlattice period, supporting the interpretation of phonon interference in recent experiments.

Additional Information

© 2019 Author(s). Published under license by AIP Publishing. Submitted: 22 October 2018 · Accepted: 15 January 2019 · Published Online: 5 February 2019.

Attached Files

Published - 1.5075481.pdf

Files

1.5075481.pdf
Files (1.4 MB)
Name Size Download all
md5:15be42c80799b73df771377621cffbd0
1.4 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 20, 2023