arXiv subjects

Minghong Qi

Publications and source records attributed to Minghong Qi.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Scattering symmetry of diffusive systems

Significant progress in manipulating heat diffusion has been achieved with the advent of non-Hermitian physics and topology. However, previous studies on diffusive systems have primarily concentrated on isolated cases, where fields decay exponentially over time. In practical scenarios, systems inevitably interact with external environments, making it essential to study their responses to external heat signals. This, in turn, relies on analyzing the scattering behavior of these signals. In our work, we experimentally realize thermal scattering in a diffusive anti-parity-time (APT) system. We define key parameters of the temperature field-amplitude, phase, and chirality-and reveal that the scattering symmetry of the APT diffusive system only arises when temperature signals with different chiralities interact. Such mechanism is induced by the unique dispersion properties in diffusive systems, where positive and negative frequencies are inequivalent, corresponding to different chiralities. This also explains the difficulty of observing APT scattering symmetry in wave systems. Our findings highlight the pivotal role of scattering channels in the symmetry and phase transitions of non-Hermitian systems and propose novel approaches for analyzing and controlling strongly dissipative phenomena.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Observing parity-time symmetry in diffusive systems

Phase modulation has scarcely been mentioned in diffusive systems since the diffusion process does not carry momentum like waves. Recently, the non-Hermitian physics provides a new perspective for understanding diffusion and shows prospects in the phase regulation of heat flow, for example, the discovery of anti-parity-time (APT) symmetry in diffusive systems. The precise control of thermal phase however remains elusive hitherto and can hardly be realized in APT-symmetric thermal systems due to the existence of phase oscillation. Here we construct the counterpart of APT-symmetric diffusive systems, i.e., PT-symmetric diffusive systems, which can achieve complete suppression of thermal phase oscillation. We find the real coupling of diffusive fields can be readily established through a strong convective background, where the decay-rate detuning is enabled by thermal metamaterial design. Moreover, we observe phase transition of PT symmetry breaking in diffusive systems with the symmetry-determined amplitude distribution and phase regulation of coupled temperature fields. Our work uncovers the existence of PT-symmetry in dissipative energy exchanges and provides a unique approach for harnessing the mass transfer of particles, the wave propagation in strongly scattering systems as well as thermal conduction.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2023

Observation of Non-Hermitian Skin Effect in Thermal Diffusion

The paradigm shift of the Hermitian systems into the non-Hermitian regime profoundly modifies the inherent topological property, leading to various unprecedented effects such as the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). In the past decade, the NHSE effect has been demonstrated in quantum, optical and acoustic systems. Besides in those non-Hermitian wave systems, the NHSE in diffusive systems has not yet been explicitly demonstrated, despite recent abundant advances in the study of topological thermal diffusion. Here we first design a thermal diffusion lattice based on a modified Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model which enables the observation of diffusive NHSE. In the proposed model, the periodic heat exchange rate among adjacent unit cells and the asymmetric temperature field coupling inside unit cells can be judiciously realized by appropriate configurations of structural parameters of unit cells. The transient concentration feature of temperature field on the boundary regardless of initial excitation conditions can be clearly observed, indicating the occurrence of transient thermal skin effect. Nonetheless, we experimentally demonstrated the NHSE and verified the remarkable robustness against various defects. Our work provides a platform for exploration of non-Hermitian physics in the diffusive systems, which has important applications in efficient heat collection, highly sensitive thermal sensing and others.

physics.class-ph↗

arXiv2023

Observation of Multiple Topological Corner States in Thermal Diffusion

Higher-dimensional topological meta-materials have more flexible than one-dimensional topological materials, which are more convenient to apply and solve practical problems. However, in diffusion systems, higher-dimensional topological states have not been well studied. In this work, we experimentally realized the 2D topological structure based on a kagome lattice of thermal metamaterial. Due to the anti-Hermitian properties of the diffusion Hamiltonian, it has purely imaginary eigenvalues corresponding to the decay rate. By theoretical analysis and directly observing the decay rate of temperature through experiments, we present the various corner states in 2D topological diffusive system. Our work constitutes the first realization of multiple corner states with high decay rates in a pure diffusion system, which provides a new idea for the design of topological protected thermal metamaterial in the future.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Asymmetric Heat Transfer with Linear Conductive Metamaterials

Asymmetric heat transfer systems, often referred to as thermal diodes or thermal rectifiers, have garnered increasing interest due to their wide range of application possibilities. Most of those previous macroscopic thermal diodes either resort to nonlinear thermal conductivities with strong temperature dependence that may be quite limited by or fixed in natural materials or rely on active modulation that necessitated auxiliary energy payloads. Here, we establish a straightforward strategy of passively realizing asymmetric heat transfer with linear conductive materials. The strategy also introduces a new interrogative perspective on the design of asymmetric heat transfer utilizing nonlinear thermal conductivity, correcting the misconception that thermal rectification is impossible with separable nonlinear thermal conductivity. The nonlinear perturbation mode can be versatilely engineered to produce an effective and wide-ranging perturbation in the heat conduction, which imitates and bypasses intrinsic thermal nonlinearity constraints set by naturally occurring counterparts. Independent experimental characterizations of surface thermal radiation and thermal convection verified that the heat exchange between a graded linear thermal metamaterial and the ambient can be tailored to achieve macroscopic asymmetric heat transfer. Our work is envisaged to inspire conceptual models for heat transfer control, serving as a robust and convenient platform for advanced thermal management, thermal computation, and heat transport.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Localized heat diffusion in topological thermal materials

Various unusual behaviors of artificial materials are governed by their topological properties, among which the edge state at the boundary of a photonic or phononic lattice has been captivated as a popular notion. However, this remarkable bulk-boundary correspondence and the related phenomena are missing in thermal materials. One reason is that heat diffusion is described in a non-Hermitian framework because of its dissipative nature. The other is that the relevant temperature field is mostly composed of modes that extend over wide ranges, making it difficult to be rendered within the tight-binding theory as commonly employed in wave physics. Here, we overcome the above challenges and perform systematic studies on heat diffusion in thermal lattices. Based on a continuum model, we introduce a state vector to link the Zak phase with the existence of the edge state, and thereby analytically prove the thermal bulk-boundary correspondence. We experimentally demonstrate the predicted edge states with a topologically protected and localized heat dissipation capacity. Our finding sets up a solid foundation to explore the topology in novel heat transfer manipulations.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2020

Diffusive non-reciprocity and thermal diode

Wave propagation and diffusion in linear materials preserve local reciprocity in terms of a symmetric Green's function. For wave propagations, the relation between the fields entering and leaving a system is more relevant than the detailed information about the fields inside it. In such cases, the global reciprocity of the scattering off a system through several ports is more important, which is defined as the symmetric transmission between the scattering channels. When a two-port system supports non-reciprocal (electromagnetic, acoustic) wave propagation, it is a (optical, phonon) diode directly following the definition. However, to date no concrete definition or discussion has been made on the global reciprocity of diffusive processes through a multiple-port system. It thus remains unclear what are the differences and relations between the three concepts, namely local non-reciprocity, global non-reciprocity, and diode effect in diffusion. Here, we provide theoretical analysis on the frequency-domain Green's function and define the global reciprocity of heat diffusion through a two-port system, which has a different setup from that of a thermal diode. We further prove the equivalence between a heat transfer system with broken steady-state global reciprocity and a thermal diode, assuming no temperature-dependent heat generation. The validities of some typical mechanisms in breaking the diffusive reciprocity and making a thermal diode have been discussed. Our results set a general background for future studies on symmetric and asymmetric diffusive processes.

physics.app-ph↗