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Is there a Lower Limit to the Thermal Conductivity of Solids?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

David G. Cahill  and
R. O. Pohl
R. O. Pohl
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Atomic & Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853-2501
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Abstract

The thermal conductivity of various systematically disordered crystals has been measured. It has been found that the lowest thermal conductivity above ∼100 K that can be achieved is equal to that of the amorphous phase. This experimentally observed lower limit of the thermal conductivity can be described with a model proposed by Einstein in which the elastic energy propagates in a random walk among the atoms which are vibrating with random phases, and which is called the minimum thermal conductivity. This heat transport mechanism resembles somewhat that commonly accepted in liquids.

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