In this paper, we
determine the degree to which changes can be
induced in the equilibrium thermal diffusivity and conductivity of
a material via a selective nonequilibrium infrared stimulation mechanism
for phonons. Using the molecular crystal RDX, we use detailed momentum-dependent
coupling information across the entire Brillouin zone and the phonon
gas model to show that stimulating selected modes in the spectrum
of a target material can induce substantial changes in the overall
thermal transport properties. Specifically in the case of RDX, stimulating
modes at ∼22.74 cm
–1
over a linewidth of
1 cm
–1
can lead to enhanced scattering rates that
reduce the overall thermal diffusivity and conductivity by 15.58 and
12.46%, respectively, from their equilibrium values. Due to the rich
spectral content in the materials, however, stimulating modes near
∼1140.67 cm
–1
over a similar bandwidth can
produce an increase in the thermal diffusivity and conductivity by
55.73 and 144.07%, respectively. The large changes suggest a mechanism
to evoke substantially modulated thermal transport properties through
light–matter interaction.