Adiabatic Thermal Radiation Pumps for Thermal Photonics

LI, HUANAN; FERNÁNDEZ-ALCÁZAR, LUCAS J.; ELLIS, FRED; SHAPIRO, BORIS; KOTTOS, TSAMPIKOS

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: New York; Año: 2019 vol. 123

0031-9007

We control the direction and magnitude of thermal radiation, between two bodies at equal temperature (in thermal equilibrium), by invoking the concept of adiabatic pumping. Specifically, within a resonant near-field electromagnetic heat transfer framework, we utilize an instantaneous scattering matrix approach to unveil the critical role of wave interference in radiative heat transfer. We find that appropriately designed adiabatic pumping cycling near diabolic singularities can dramatically enhance the efficiency of the directional energy transfer. We confirm our results using a realistic electronic circuit setup.