| Date | 11th, Dec 2023 |
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On the highway of heat transfer, thermal energy is moved by way of quantum particles called phonons. But at the nanoscale of today’s most cutting-edge semiconductors, those phonons don’t remove enough heat. That’s why Purdue University researchers are focused on opening a new nanoscale lane on the heat transfer highway by using hybrid quasiparticles called “polaritons.” Credit: Purdue University photo/DALL-E
On the highway of heat transfer, thermal energy is moved by way of quantum particles called phonons. But at the nanoscale of today’s most cutting-edge semiconductors, those phonons don’t remove enough heat. That’s why Purdue University researchers are focused on opening a new nanoscale lane on the heat transfer highway by using hybrid quasiparticles called “polaritons.”
Thomas Beechem loves heat transfer. He talks about it loud and proud, like a preacher at a big tent revival.
“We have several ways of describing energy,” said Beechem, associate professor of mechanical engineering. “When we talk about light, we describe it in terms of particles called ‘photons.’ Heat also carries energy in predictable ways, and we describe those waves of energy as ‘phonons.’ But sometimes depending on the material, photons and phonons will come together and make something new called a ‘polariton.’ It carries energy in its own way, distinct from both photons or phonons.”
Like photons and phonons, polaritons aren’t physical particles you can see or capture. They are more like ways of describing energy exchange as if they were particles.
Still fuzzy? How about another analogy. “Phonons are like internal combustion vehicles, and photons are like electric vehicles,” Beechem said. “Polaritons are a Toyota Prius. They are a hybrid of light and heat, and retain some of the properties of both. But they are their own special thing.”
Polaritons have been used in optical applications — everything from stained glass to home health tests. But their ability to move heat has largely been ignored, because their impact becomes significant only when the size of materials becomes very small. “We know that phonons do a majority of the work of transferring heat,” said Jacob Minyard, a Ph.D. student in Beechem’s lab. “The effect of polaritons is only observable at the nanoscale. But we’ve never needed to address heat transfer at that level until now, because of semiconductors.”
“Semiconductors have become so incredibly small and complex,” he continued. “People who design and build these chips are discovering that phonons don’t efficiently disperse heat at these very small scales. Our paper demonstrates that at those length scales, polaritons can contribute a larger share of thermal conductivity.”
Their research on polaritons has been selected as a Featured Article in the Journal of Applied Physics.
