Universality of phonon transport in surface-roughness dominated nanowires

Abstract

We analyze, both theoretically and numerically, the temperature dependent thermal conductivity \k{appa} of two-dimensional nanowires with surface roughness. Although each sample is characterized by three independent parameters - the diameter (width) of the wire, the correlation length and strength of the surface corrugation - our theory predicts that there exists a universal regime where \k{appa} is a function of a single combination of all three model parameters. Numerical simulations of propagation of acoustic phonons across thin wires confirm this universality and predict a d 1/2 dependence of \k{appa} on the diameter d.