Impact of contact resistance in Lorenz number measurements

Abstract

We analyze the effect of contact resistance on the Lorenz number measurement based on direct electronic thermal conductivity experiments. The contact resistance can significantly limit the experimental measured value when the Lorenz number is enhanced, but not as much so when it is suppressed, should the Wiedemann-Franz law be violated. The result provides the conditions of the potential false negative error and highlights the importance of improving the contact resistance in studying non-Fermi liquid behavior in thermal transport experiments.