Propagon boundary scattering relaxed via crystalline host on multiphase germanium telluride

Abstract

The movement of heat through amorphous solids on an atomic level remains an outstanding question. Recent studies suggest that the primary thermal carrier in amorphous materials, propagons, essentially behaves like phonons. In this work, we provide experimental evidence that shows the interaction between propagons and phonons by utilizing the phase change chalcogenide germanium telluride. A series of ultra-long time-delay time-domain thermoreflectance measurements are used to analyze the scattering of vibrational thermal carriers at the boundaries of amorphous GeTe thin films relative to scattering across a crystalline-amorphous bilayer. We find that amorphous long wavelength propagons that would otherwise scatter can instead be hosted by a crystalline underlayer and its phonon population. This experimental evidence directly demonstrates propagon–phonon interactions in a clear experimental manner.