Roman Anufriev
Research
2024 – present · CNRS researcher at LIMMS, Japan
2023 – 2024 · CNRS researcher at CETHIL, France
2021 – 2023 · Project Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo
2018 – 2021 · Project Research Associate at the University of Tokyo
2014 – 2018 · PostDoc at the University of Tokyo
2010 – 2013 · PhD at Lyon Nanotechnology Institute (INL)
2009 – 2010 · Master at Saint Petersburg Academic University
Education
Ph.D. · Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) de Lyon · 2013
Thesis:
“Optical properties of III-V nanowire heterostructures grown on silicon substrates”.
M.S. · St. Petersburg Academic University · 2010
Thesis:
“Simulation of Tamm plasmon polaritons in multilayered cylindrical structures”.
Major: Electronics and microelectronics.
B.S. · St. Petersburg Polytechnic University · 2008
Major: Technical physics.
Skills
- Nanofabrication methods (EB lithography, RIE, PVD, etc.)
- Time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR, FDTR)
- Brillouin light scattering (BLS) spectroscopy
- Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL, Micro-PL, PLE, TR-PL)
- Electron and atomic force microscopy (AFM)
- Ray-tracing, FEM, and quantum simulations (Python, Matlab, Comsol, and Nextnano)
- Background in the solid state physics (semiconductor optics, nanoscale heat transport, phononics)
- English (C2), French (B1-B2), Polish (A1-A2), Japanese (N5), Russian (C2)
More details on the skills are available here.
Grants and awards
2026 · Kakenhi JSPS grant (€ 20 000)
2025 · CNRS Cellule Energie (€ 15 000)
2020 · Best Review Award from JSPS
2019 · The Junior Prize of the IPPA
2019 · PRESTO JST grant (€ 300 000)
2018 · Kakenhi JSPS grant (€ 23 000)
2017 · JSAP Young Author Award
2016 · Certificate of merit for “Thermal Engineering Best Paper” from the JSME
2016 · Postdoctoral scholarship of the JSPS (€ 20 000)
Highlighted publications
Full list of publications is available here.
When phononic crystals fail: Spatial and spectral limits of phonon interference
This paper experimentally identifies the spectral and spatial limits at which phonon interference breaks down in two-dimensional nanoscale phononic crystals. Using Brillouin light scattering, we measured phonon dispersion relations as a function of crystal dimensions and found a gradual transition through an intermediate state dominated by out-of-plane interference before coherence ceases altogether. These findings establish fundamental design limits for phononic crystal applications in microelectronics and acoustic quantum computing.
Anufriev et al., Physical Review Applied 24, L061001, 2025
A graphite thermal Tesla valve driven by hydrodynamic phonon transport
We demonstrated heat rectification using a micrometre-scale Tesla valve geometry in graphite. The asymmetric valve geometry causes heat to flow more easily in one direction than the other, producing a measurable difference in thermal conductivity between the two directions at 45 K. This thermal diode effect is driven by hydrodynamic phonon transport, where collective phonon interactions create viscous heat flow analogous to fluid dynamics.
Huang et al., Nature 634, 1086, 2024
We fabricated single crystalline SiC nanostructures, including nanomembranes, nanowires, and phononic crystals, and systematically studied their thermal properties and phonon mean free path. Our measurements show that the thermal conductivity of nanostructures is several times lower than in bulk and the values scale proportionally to the narrowest dimension of the structures.
Anufriev et al., NPG Asia Materials 14, 35, 2022
Ray phononics: thermal guides, emitters, filters, and shields powered by ballistic phonon transport
This conceptual paper introduced ray phononics as an alternative paradigm of heat conduction manipulations. We demonstrated how directional phonon fluxes occur and how they can be used to create various thermal devices based on ballistic heat conduction. This work opened a new research direction in phononics.
Anufriev and Nomura, Materials Today Physics 15, 100272, 2020
Quasi-ballistic heat conduction due to Lévy phonon flights in silicon nanowires
We experimentally demonstrated how ballistic heat conduction gradually occurs in short nanowires as the temperature is decreased. This work reveals a gradual transition from diffusive to ballistic behavior and shows realistic limits of non-diffusive transport. Our modeling shows that quasi-ballistic heat conduction is caused by Lévy walk of phonons.
Anufriev et al., ACS Nano 12, 11928, 2018
Academic open-source projects
FreePaths - Monte Carlo simulator of phonon and thermal transport.
Angry Reviewer - Online style corrector for academic writing.