Large penetration depth of near-field heat flux in hyperbolic media

Journal Article · Mon Mar 24 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4869490· OSTI ID:22258620

Petrov, A. Yu.; Eich, M. ^[1]; Tschikin, M.; Biehs, S. -A. ^[2]

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1. Institute of Optical and Electronic Materials, Hamburg University of Technology, 21073 Hamburg (Germany)
2. Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, D-26111 Oldenburg (Germany)

We compare super-Planckian thermal radiation between phonon-polaritonic media and hyperbolic metamaterials. In particular, we determine the penetration depth of thermal photons inside the absorbing medium for three different structures: two semi-infinite phonon-polaritonic media supporting surface modes, two multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials and two nanowire hyperbolic metamaterials. We show that for hyperbolic modes the penetration depth can be orders of magnitude larger than for surface modes suggesting that hyperbolic materials are much more preferable for near-field thermophotovoltaic applications than pure phonon-polaritonic materials.

• OSTI ID: 22258620
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 12; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
HEAT FLUX
PENETRATION DEPTH
PHONONS
PHOTONS
THERMAL RADIATION