Direct observation of large electron–phonon interaction effect on phonon heat transport
Name
s41467-020-19938-9.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.44 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
cbcf1ae3adc78452809f3f30449443e2
Author(s)
Zhou, Jiawei
Shin, Hyun D
Chen, Ke
Song, Bai
Duncan, Ryan A
Xu, Qian
Maznev, Alexei A
Nelson, Keith A
Chen, Gang
Date Issued
2020
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Citation
Zhou, Jiawei, Shin, Hyun D, Chen, Ke, Song, Bai, Duncan, Ryan A et al. 2020. "Direct observation of large electron–phonon interaction effect on phonon heat transport." Nature Communications, 11 (1).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
© 2020, The Author(s). As a foundational concept in many-body physics, electron–phonon interaction is essential to understanding and manipulating charge and energy flow in various electronic, photonic, and energy conversion devices. While much progress has been made in uncovering how phonons affect electron dynamics, it remains a challenge to directly observe the impact of electrons on phonon transport, especially at environmental temperatures. Here, we probe the effect of charge carriers on phonon heat transport at room temperature, using a modified transient thermal grating technique. By optically exciting electron-hole pairs in a crystalline silicon membrane, we single out the effect of the phonon–carrier interaction. The enhanced phonon scattering by photoexcited free carriers results in a substantial reduction in thermal conductivity on a nanosecond timescale. Our study provides direct experimental evidence of the elusive role of electron–phonon interaction in phonon heat transport, which is important for understanding heat conduction in doped semiconductors. We also highlight the possibility of using light to dynamically control thermal transport via electron–phonon coupling.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemistry
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/S41467-020-19938-9
