| Abstract: | Phononic crystals that have the ability to modify and control the thermal
black body phonon distribution and the phonon component of heat transport
in a solid. In particular, the thermal conductivity and heat capacity can
be modified by altering the phonon density of states in a phononic
crystal. The present invention is directed to phononic crystal devices
and materials such as radio frequency (RF) tags powered from ambient
heat, dielectrics with extremely low thermal conductivity, thermoelectric
materials with a higher ratio of electrical-to-thermal conductivity,
materials with phononically engineered heat capacity, phononic crystal
waveguides that enable accelerated cooling, and a variety of low
temperature application devices. |