Quantized Thermal Conductance of Dielectric Quantum Wires

Abstract

Using the Landauer formulation of transport theory, we predict that dielectric quantum wires should exhibit quantized thermal conductance at low temperatures in a ballistic phonon regime. The quantum of thermal conductance is universal, independent of the characteristics of the material, and equal to ${\pi }^2{k}_B^{2}T/3h$ where $k_B$ is the Boltzmann constant, $h$ is Planck's constant, and $T$ is the temperature. Quantized thermal conductance should be experimentally observable in suspended nanostructures adiabatically coupled to reservoirs, devices that can be realized at the present time.