Diffusive-to-ballistic transition of the modulated heat transport in a rarefied air chamber

Modulated heat transfer in air subject to pressures from 760 Torr to 10-4 Torr is experimentally studied by means of a thermal-wave resonant cavity placed in a vacuum chamber. This is done through the analysis of the amplitude and phase delay of the photothermal signal as a function of the cavity length and pressure through of the Knudsen’s number. The viscous, transitional, and free molecular regimes of heat transport are observed for pressures P>1.5 Torr, 25 mTorr