Squeezing a common crystal can actually make heat flow through it 23 percent faster by reorganizing its internal flaws.
April 29, 2026
Original Paper
Reversible Modulation of Thermal Conductivity in GaN via Strain-Driven Reorganization of Dislocation Ensembles
arXiv · 2604.25287
The Takeaway
Applying elastic strain to Gallium Nitride allows researchers to reversibly shuffle the defects inside the material. Usually, internal defects act like potholes that slow down the flow of heat, making electronics run hotter. This experiment shows that you can train these defects into an organized pattern that actually helps heat escape. It is the first time scientists have shown that defects can be used to improve rather than degrade a material's performance. This discovery could lead to high-power electronics that stay cool under pressure by simply being squeezed.
From the abstract
Crystalline defects are generally regarded as static phonon scatterers that irreversibly suppress thermal transport. Here we show that elastic strain can dynamically and reversibly reorganize dislocation ensembles and strongly modify heat conduction. Using in situ strain-dependent time-domain thermoreflectance measurements, we observe a reversible enhancement of thermal conductivity in GaN by 23% under only 0.21% uniaxial strain. High-resolution x-ray diffraction reveals progressive narrowing of