We propose a scheme for achieving negative differential thermal conductance in near-field electromagnetic thermal transfer. As an example, we show that the scheme can be implemented with two slabs of silicon carbide brought in close proximity to each other. We also describe how a bistable thermal switch can be constructed in this manner. VC 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.367...

At low temperatures, phonon scattering can become so weak that phonon transport becomes ballistic. We calculate the ballistic phonon conductance G for membranes using elasticity theory, considering the transition from three to two dimensions. We discuss the temperature and thickness dependence and especially concentrate on the issue of material parameters. For all membrane thicknesses, the best...

Using time-domain thermoreflectance, we have measured the transport of thermally excited vibrational energy across planar interfaces between water and solids that have been chemically functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The Kapitza length--i.e., the thermal conductivity of water divided by the thermal conductance per unit area of the interface--is analogous to the "slip length...

The thermal boundary conductance (TBC) of materials pairs in atomically intimate contact is reviewed as a practical guide for materials scientists. First, analytical and computational models of TBC are reviewed. Five measurement methods are then compared in terms of their sensitivity to TBC: the 3ω method, frequencyand time-domain thermoreflectance, the cut-bar method, and a composite effective...

We report a theoretical analysis of the phonon thermal conductance, κ(T ), for single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCN). In a range of low temperatues up to 100K, κ(T ) of perfect SWCN is found to increase with temperature, approximately, in a parabolic fashion. This is qualitatively consistent with recent experimental measurements where the tube-tube interactions are negligibly weak. When the carbo...