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Nanoscale Thermal Transport

(L) Time Domain Thermoreflectance (TDTR) Technique incorporated with a near-field optical microscope
(R) – TDTR measurements in layered graphene films on a silicon substrate

Understanding thermal transport processes in nanoscale structures is crucial to heat management, energy conversion, and utilization in electronic devices, and understanding fundamental solid-state physics of condensed matter. We study heat transport in materials using optical pump and probe techniques like, time domain thermoreflectance and frequency domain thermoreflectance techniques, and rely on model-based inverse analysis of experimental data to predict continuum level heat conduction properties like, cross-plane and in-plane thermal conductivity of thin films and layered semiconductor heterostructures. In particular, in films and bulk solids with interfaces (grain boundaries and layer-layer interfaces, etc), we are interested in understanding the role of interface morphology, composition, bonding, and applied fields, on the resistance to heat conduction by phonons, in for example, hybrid organic-inorganic heterostructures, and two-dimensional atomic layered films. We are also interested in exploring near-field optical techniques for probing heat transport in isolated nanostructures and across individual interfaces.