Dynamic modulation of thermal emission—A Tutorial

What is it about?

This tutorial discusses the topic of thermal radiation and its dynamic modulation. We start with a description of thermal radiation, originating from macroscopic bodies ranging from the sun itself to incandescent lightbulbs. We highlight state-of-the-art applications of thermally emitted light for energy, e.g. thermophotovoltaics and radiative cooling mechanisms for the thermoregulation. We subsequently introduce the theoretical formalism that describes thermal radiation and its main properties, and we extend our explanations to the thermal near-field regime. Finally, we present available physical mechanisms for dynamic manipulation of thermal radiation, such as electrostatic tuning via an external bias, thermo- and magneto-optical modulation, and other approaches. Together with the description of each mechanism, we provide a brief review of the literature, to highlight most recent and ground breaking theoretical and experimental findings.

Featured Image

Photo by Sean Sinclair on Unsplash

Photo by Sean Sinclair on Unsplash