Room-temperature second sound in isotopically pure graphite

Abstract

Abstract The observation of second sound—a propagating wave-like manifestation of hydrodynamic heat transport—in solid crystals has been confined to a handful of materials at cryogenic temperatures, as disorder and Umklapp scattering suppress this phenomenon at room temperature. Here, we report the direct observation of second sound at ambient conditions in isotopically purified graphite. Using transient thermal grating spectroscopy, we measure a distinct damped oscillatory signal that provides unambiguous evidence of second sound, decisively distinguishing it from diffusive and ballistic transport regimes. This collective phonon dynamics enables an enhancement of the effective thermal conductivity, even surpassing the conventional diffusive limit by nearly 10%. Our work establishes the control of phonon-isotope scattering as a powerful strategy to unlock hydrodynamic phonon transport. It demonstrates that phonon hydrodynamics is an accessible and exploitable phenomenon in crystals at room temperature, providing an avenue for the fundamental study and application of wave-like heat transport.