Phonon Focusing at Room Temperature: UCLA Guides Heat Like Light

Phonon Focusing at Room Temperature: UCLA Guides Heat Like Light

UCLA engineers have shown that heat can be guided like a beam of light at room temperature, not just in deep cryogenic labs. In a study published August 7, 2026, in Nature Physics, a team led by Professor Yongjie Hu at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering demonstrated phonon focusing at room temperature in boron arsenide, a crystalline semiconductor with exceptionally high thermal conductivity. Instead of spreading in circles, heat traveled in…