Thermal transport across membranes and the Kapitza length from photothermal microscopy

• Published in: Journal of biological physics Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 365 - 381
• Main Authors: Samolis, Panagis D., Sander, Michelle Y., Hong, Mi K., Erramilli, Shyamsunder, Narayan, Onuttom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Approximation; Biochemistry; Biological and Medical Physics; Biophysics; Cell membranes; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Complex Systems; Frequency dependence; Heat; Hot Temperature; Light scattering; Lipids; Membranes; Microscopy; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; Neurosciences; Phase transitions; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Soft and Granular Matter; Thermal transport; Cell membranes; Kapitza length; Kapitza resistance; Photothermal
• ISSN: 0092-0606; 1573-0689; 1573-0689
• DOI: 10.1007/s10867-023-09636-0

An analytical model is presented for light scattering associated with heat transport near a cell membrane that divides a complex system into two topologically distinct half-spaces. Our analysis is motivated by experiments on vibrational photothermal microscopy which have not only demonstrated remarkably high contrast and resolution, but also are capable of providing label-free local information of heat transport in complex morphologies. In the first Born approximation, the derived Green’s function leads to the reconstruction of a full 3D image with photothermal contrast obtained using both amplitude and phase detection of periodic excitations. We show that important fundamental parameters including the Kapitza length and Kapitza resistance can be derived from experiments. Our goal is to spur additional experimental studies with high-frequency modulation and heterodyne detection in order to make contact with recent theoretical molecular dynamics calculations of thermal transport properties in membrane systems.