An optical pump-probe technique for measuring the thermal conductivity of liquids

Aaron Schmidt, Matteo Chiesa, Xiaoyuan Chen, Gang Chen

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168 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a pump-probe optical technique for measuring the thermal conductivity of liquids. The technique uses a reflective geometry which does not depend on the optical properties of the liquid and requires as little as a single droplet to produce a result. An analytical solution is given for bidirectional heat flow in layered media, including the effects of radial heat flow from coaxial Gaussian laser spots, thermal interface resistances, and the accumulation of multiple laser pulses. In addition, several experimental improvements over previous pump-probe configurations are described, resulting in an improved signal to noise ratio and smaller errors at long stage delay times. The technique is applied to a range of liquids and solids. Results are in good agreement with literature values.

Original languageBritish English
Article number064902
JournalReview of Scientific Instruments
Volume79
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2008

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