AVS 66th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Electronic Materials and Photonics Division Wednesday Sessions
       Session EM+2D+AS+MI+MN+NS+TF-WeM

Paper EM+2D+AS+MI+MN+NS+TF-WeM1
Photonic Thermal Conduction in Semiconductor Nanowires

Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 8:00 am, Room A214

Session: Nanostructures and Nanocharacterization of Electronic and Photonic Devices
Presenter: Michael A. Filler, Georgia Institute of Technology
Authors: E.J. Tervo, Georgia Institute of Technology
M.E. Gustafson, Georgia Institute of Technology
Z.M. Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology
B.A. Cola, Georgia Institute of Technology
M.A. Filler, Georgia Institute of Technology
Correspondent: Click to Email
We present a practical material system—chains of infrared plasmonic resonators situated along the length of semiconductor nanowires—where near-field electromagnetic coupling between neighboring resonators enables photonic thermal transport comparable to the electronic and phononic contributions. We model the thermal conductivity of Si and InAs nanowires as a function of nanowire diameter, resonator length, aspect ratio, and separation distance by combining discrete dipolar approximation calculations, to determine the relevant dispersion relations, with thermal kinetic theory. We show that photonic thermal conductivities exceeding 1 W m-1 K-1 are possible for 10 nm diameter Si and InAs nanowires containing repeated resonators at 500 K, more than an order of magnitude higher than existing materials systems and on par with that possible with phonons and electrons. These results highlight the potential for photons in properly engineered solids to carry significant quantities of heat and suggest new ways to dynamic control thermal conductivity.