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Title: Modulation and amplification of radiative far field heat transfer: Towards a simple radiative thermal transistor

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4916730· OSTI ID:22398837
; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Institut Pprime, Université de Poitiers-CNRS-ENSMA, UPR 3346, ENSIP Bâtiment B25, 2 Rue Pierre Brousse, TSA 41105, 86073 Poitiers Cedex 9 (France)
  2. Laboratoire Charles Fabry, UMR 8501, Institut d'optique, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud 11, 2 Avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91127 Palaiseau (France)

We show in this article that phase change materials (PCM) exhibiting a phase transition between a dielectric state and a metallic state are good candidates to perform modulation as well as amplification of radiative thermal flux. We propose a simple situation in plane parallel geometry where a so-called radiative thermal transistor could be achieved. In this configuration, we put a PCM between two blackbodies at different temperatures. We show that the transistor effect can be achieved easily when this material has its critical temperature between the two blackbody temperatures. We also see that the more the material is reflective in the metallic state, the more switching effect is realized, whereas the more PCM transition is stiff in temperature, the more thermal amplification is high. We finally take the example of VO{sub 2} that exhibits an insulator-metallic transition at 68 °C. We show that a demonstrator of a radiative transistor could easily be achieved in view of the heat flux levels predicted. Far-field thermal radiation experiments are proposed to back the results presented.

OSTI ID:
22398837
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 13; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English