Focusing of heat pulses along nonequilibrium nanowires

As a consequence of the temperature dependence of the speed of heat pulses, rectangular heat pulses will shrink (or extend) spatially, and will increase (or decrease) their temperature when propagating along a temperature gradient. Here, we consider heat pulse propagation along silicon nanowires, because of their interest in nanotechnology. The relative rates of variation per meter may be very high, and variations along relatively short lengths could be experimentally observable. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.