2026/07/31 by Shixian Liu, Tianhao Li, Fei Yin +4
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
11 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2026/07/31 · arxiv updated 2026/08/03
Targeted phonon excitation offers a route to dynamically control heat conduction, yet no general principle predicts whether a spectrally selective nonequilibrium phonon population will enhance or suppress thermal transport. A Knudsen-controlled competition between the increased contribution of long-mean-free-path phonons and excitation-enhanced intrinsic scattering governs the sign of the thermal-conductivity response. First-principles three-phonon scattering rates combined with phonon-tracking Monte Carlo simulations are used to examine Ge, Si, and 3C--SiC from bulk crystals to confined nanofilms. In bulk systems, excitation-enhanced scattering dominates and thermal conductivity is predominantly suppressed. In nanofilms, by contrast, low-frequency excitation can increase the contribution of quasi-ballistic heat-carrying channels and enhance thermal conductivity, whereas higher-frequency excitation is predominantly suppressive. At fixed background temperature and excitation strength, these opposite responses are organized in a frequency--Knudsen map based on the normalized target frequency, ω\mathrm t/ω\mathrm D, and the Knudsen number, Kn. The resulting framework provides a general physical basis for controlling nonequilibrium heat transport beyond static phonon engineering.