Investigating the origin of the phonons short mean free path in BaBiO3

The perovskite BaBiO3 displays a complex phase diagram as a function of temperature and doping, offering a rich playground to explore the role of phonons on the emergence of collective quantum states. BaBiO3 was recently predicted to host topologically protected metallic surfaces, also pointing to the potential of this material as a thermoelectric candidate. In this context, our recent transport investigation in BaBiO3 revealed a low value of thermal conductivity ~ 1W/mK, leading to an estimated phonon mean free path at room temperature of the order of the unit cell and suggesting the presence of scattering mechanisms limiting phonon transport. In this proposal, we propose to perform SXD to investigate the role of static and dynamic defects to advance our understanding of the microscopic mechanisms at the base of the transport properties.