Weak Coupling of Diffusional and Phonon-like Modes in Liquids Revealed by Dynamic Kapitza Length

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Hauptverfasser: Chen, Tao, Jiang, Puqing
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Chen, Tao
Jiang, Puqing
author_facet Chen, Tao
Jiang, Puqing
contents Understanding heat transfer across solid-liquid interfaces is central to thermal management and energy technologies, yet whether the interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) depends on the timescale of heating remains unclear. Here we use square-pulsed source thermoreflectance, which combines time-resolved detection with broadband modulation, to probe Al-water and Al-octane interfaces. We observe a reproducible increase of the apparent ITC with modulation frequency. A control Al-silica interface shows no measurable frequency dependence, indicating that the effect is specific to liquids rather than a generic feature shared by all amorphous materials. We explain the data with a two-channel liquid picture in which diffusional and phonon-like modes exchange energy weakly over a finite nonequilibrium length. From the relative magnitude of the thermal penetration depth and the nonequilibrium length, we identify three transport regimes. These findings challenge the common assumption of fully equilibrated liquid modes and provide experimental constraints for modeling dynamic energy exchange at liquid interfaces.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_22723
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Weak Coupling of Diffusional and Phonon-like Modes in Liquids Revealed by Dynamic Kapitza Length
Chen, Tao
Jiang, Puqing
Materials Science
Statistical Mechanics
Understanding heat transfer across solid-liquid interfaces is central to thermal management and energy technologies, yet whether the interfacial thermal conductance (ITC) depends on the timescale of heating remains unclear. Here we use square-pulsed source thermoreflectance, which combines time-resolved detection with broadband modulation, to probe Al-water and Al-octane interfaces. We observe a reproducible increase of the apparent ITC with modulation frequency. A control Al-silica interface shows no measurable frequency dependence, indicating that the effect is specific to liquids rather than a generic feature shared by all amorphous materials. We explain the data with a two-channel liquid picture in which diffusional and phonon-like modes exchange energy weakly over a finite nonequilibrium length. From the relative magnitude of the thermal penetration depth and the nonequilibrium length, we identify three transport regimes. These findings challenge the common assumption of fully equilibrated liquid modes and provide experimental constraints for modeling dynamic energy exchange at liquid interfaces.
title Weak Coupling of Diffusional and Phonon-like Modes in Liquids Revealed by Dynamic Kapitza Length
topic Materials Science
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.22723