Skip to main content
SHARE
Research Highlight

Phasons rule heat flow in fresnoite

Topic:

Neutron scattering and thermal transport measurements reveal that phasons in piezoelectric fresnoite carry more heat than phonons by propagating farther and faster.

Understanding thermal conductivity in incommensurate crystals is important for many energy materials, so finding that phasons – which are often ignored – can dominate thermal conductivity in such systems is an important development.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.255901