On the Landauer formula in interfacial thermal transport

TL;DR

This paper clarifies that the Landauer formula for thermal transport is broadly applicable beyond the phonon gas model, including wave-based descriptions, and can be rigorously derived using atomistic Green's functions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the generality of the Landauer formula for interfacial thermal transport, extending its validity to various phonon models and interface conditions.

Findings

Landauer formula applies to both particle- and wave-based phonon descriptions.

The formula is exact in the harmonic regime and can be derived via atomistic Green's functions.

It remains valid for ideal, disordered, and defective interfaces with proper transmission functions.

Abstract

In this commentary, we clarify that the Landauer formula is not limited to the phonon gas model. It is fundamentally more general and applies to both particle- and wave-based descriptions of phonons, provided the transmission function is well defined. In the harmonic regime, the phonon transmission function and the resulting Landauer expression for heat current are exact. They can be rigorously derived using the atomistic Green's function method, which treats phonons as waves and does not require phonon dispersion in the interface region. In short, the Landauer framework remains valid for ideal, disordered, and defective interfaces, as long as an appropriate transmission function is used.