The thermal conductance of straight and corrugated monocrystalline silicon nanowires has been measured between 0.3 K and 5 K. The difference in the thermal transport between corrugated nanowires and straight ones demonstrates a strong reduction in th
e mean free path of the phonons. This averaged mean free path is remarkably smaller than the smaller diameter of the nanowire, evidencing a phonon thermal transport reduced below the Casimir limit. Monte Carlo simulations highlight that this effect can be attributed to significant multiple scattering of ballistic phonons occuring on the corrugated surfaces. This result suggests an original approach to transforming a monocrystalline material into a phonon glass.
A suspended system for measuring the thermal properties of membranes is presented. The sensitive thermal measurement is based on the 3$omega$ dynamic method coupled to a V$ddot{o}$lklein geometry. The device obtained using micro-machining processes a
llows the measurement of the in-plane thermal conductivity of a membrane with a sensitivity of less than 10nW/K (+/-$5x10^{-3}$Wm$^{-1}K^{-1}$ at room temperature) and a very high resolution ($Delta K/K =10^{-3}$). A transducer (heater/thermometer) centered on the membrane is used to create an oscillation of the heat flux and to measure the temperature oscillation at the third harmonic using a Wheatstone bridge set-up. Power as low as 0.1nanoWatt has been measured at room temperature. The method has been applied to measure thermal properties of low stress silicon nitride and polycrystalline diamond membranes with thickness ranging from 100 nm to 400 nm. The thermal conductivity measured on the polycrystalline diamond membrane support a significant grain size effect on the thermal transport.
Phase transitions in superconducting mesoscopic disks have been studied over the H-T phase diagram through heat capacity measurement of an array of independent aluminium disks. These disks exhibit non periodic modulations versus H of the height of th
e heat capacity jump at the superconducting to normal transition. This behaviour is attributed to giant vortex states characterized by their vorticity L. A crossover from a bulk-like to a mesoscopic behaviour is demonstrated. $C_{rm p}$ versus H plots exhibit cascades of phase transitions as L increases or decreases by one unity, with a strong hysteresis. Phase diagrams of giant vortex states inside the superconducting region are drawn in the vortex penetration and expulsion regimes and phase transitions driven by temperature between vortex states are thus predicted in the zero field cooled regime before being experimentally evidenced.
The heat capacity $C_{p}$ of an array of independent aluminum rings has been measured under an external magnetic field $vec{H}$ using highly sensitive ac-calorimetry based on a silicon membrane sensor. Each superconducting vortex entrance induces a p
hase transition and a heat capacity jump and hence $C_{p}$ oscillates with $vec{H}$. This oscillatory and non-stationary behaviour measured versus the magnetic field has been studied using the Wigner-Ville distribution (a time-frequency representation). It is found that the periodicity of the heat capacity oscillations varies significantly with the magnetic field; the evolution of the period also depends on the sweeping direction of the field. This can be attributed to a different behavior between expulsion and penetration of vortices into the rings. A variation of more than 15% of the periodicity of the heat capacity jumps is observed as the magnetic field is varied. A description of this phenomenon is given using an analytical solution of the Ginzburg-Landau equations of superconductivity.
