Near-Field Energy Extraction with Hyperbolic Metamaterials

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• 作者：Jiawei Shi ; Baoan Liu ; Pengfei Li ; Li Yen Ng ; Sheng Shen
• 刊名：Nano Letters
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：February 11, 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：15
• 期：2
• 页码：1217-1221
• 全文大小：364K
• ISSN：1530-6992

文摘

Although blackbody radiation described by Planck鈥檚 law is commonly regarded as the maximum of thermal radiation, thermal energy transfer in the near-field can exceed the blackbody limit due to the contribution from evanescent waves. Here, we demonstrate experimentally a broadband thermal energy extraction device based on hyperbolic metamaterials that can significantly enhance near-field thermal energy transfer. The thermal extractor made from hyperbolic metamaterials does not absorb or emit any radiation but serves as a transparent pipe guiding the radiative energy from the emitter. At the same gap between an emitter and an absorber, we observe that near-field thermal energy transfer with thermal extraction can be enhanced by around 1 order of magnitude, compared to the case without thermal extraction. The novel thermal extraction scheme has important practical implications in a variety of technologies, e.g., thermophotovoltaic energy conversion, radiative cooling, thermal infrared imaging, and heat assisted magnetic recording.