Investigation of nanoscale thermal radiation : theory and experiments

The ability to control the radiative properties of objects is of prime importance in diverse areas like solar and thermophotovoltaic energy conversion, narrowband thermal emitters, and camouflage in military applications. Thermal radiation at the nanometer scale is significantly different from classical or macroscopic radiative energy transport - wave effects, such as interference and diffraction, and near-field effects play a significant role. By modeling thermal radiation as governed by Maxwell's equations and relating the source of thermal radiation to temperature induced fluctuations of electric currents, it becomes possible to capture the nanaoscale effects that differrentiate it from classical blackbody radiation. This work is focused on two aspects of nanoscale thermal radiation - the ability to tailor the emissive properties using 1D photonic crystals and the enhancement of radiative heat transfer due to electromagnetic surface waves. Theoretical investigation of thermal radiation in ID photonic crystals led to the proposal of new type of selective emitters using 1D metallo-dielectric photonic crystals that rival the more intricate 2D and 3D counterparts.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Narayanaswamy, Arvind

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Gang Chen.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40375

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40375