Generalized Fourier's law in mesoscopic systems

Abstract

Fourier's law fails when the mean free path of the energy carriers becomes comparable to the length and time scales over which the temperature field varies. We derive a thermodynamically consistent generalization in which the conductivity is promoted to a nonlocal memory operator $\bmκ_{\mathrm{eff}}(\mathbf{k},ω)$, obtained by combining mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics with the Mori--Kubo--Zwanzig projection-operator formalism. The Onsager kernel decomposes exactly into a tensor sum over vibrational normal modes weighted by their Bose heat capacities and relaxation functions, and satisfies the second law by construction. Two consequences follow. First, because the modal weights carry the directional group velocity, the kernel is anisotropic, so a nominally isotropic crystal exhibits direction-dependent apparent conductivities $Λ_z\neqΛ_r$. Second, in a pump--probe experiment the modulation frequency does not introduce temporal memory but sets the probed wavevector through the thermal penetration depth, so the suppression of the apparent conductivity measured by time-domain thermoreflectance on Si, Ge and Si$_{1-x}$Ge$_x$ is a spatial-nonlocality effect set by a sub-micron carrier mean free path. Fitting the data of Wilson and Cahill yields nonlocality lengths of $0.25$--$0.4~μ$m consistent with the mean-free-path spectra of these crystals. The framework supplies a thermodynamic foundation for the two-channel ballistic/diffusive picture of nondiffusive heat transport.