Manipulating coherence of near-field thermal radiation in time-modulated systems

Renwen Yu; Shanhui Fan

doi:10.1117/12.2676100

4 October 2023 Manipulating coherence of near-field thermal radiation in time-modulated systems

Renwen Yu, Shanhui Fan

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume PC12647, Active Photonic Platforms (APP) 2023; PC126470S (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676100
Event: SPIE Nanoscience + Engineering, 2023, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Controlling thermal emission is crucial for many applications, such as passive radiative cooling and solar thermophotovoltaic energy conversion. A key characteristics of thermal radiation is its coherence property. However, all existing studies on coherence properties of thermal radiation consider only passive systems. Here, we show that the spatial coherence of thermal radiation can be manipulated in time-modulated photonic systems supporting surface polaritons. We develop a fluctuational electrodynamics formalism for such systems to calculate the cross-spectral density tensor of the emitted thermal electromagnetic fields in the near-field regime. Our calculations indicate that, due to time-modulation, spatial coherence can be transferred between different frequencies, and correlations between different frequency components become possible. All these effects are unique to time-modulated systems. We also show that the decay rate of optical emitters can be controlled in the proximity of such time-modulated structure. Our findings open a promising avenue toward coherence control in thermal radiation, dynamical thermal imaging, manipulating energy transfer among thermal or optical emitters, efficient near-field radiative cooling, and engineering spontaneous emission rates of molecules.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Renwen Yu and Shanhui Fan "Manipulating coherence of near-field thermal radiation in time-modulated systems", Proc. SPIE PC12647, Active Photonic Platforms (APP) 2023, PC126470S (4 October 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2676100

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

;

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE