Photonic crystals: shaping the flow of thermal radiation

• Main Authors: Ghebrebrhan, Michael (Contributor), Yeng, YiXiang (Contributor), Kassakian, John G. (Contributor), Soljacic, Marin (Contributor), Celanovic, Ivan L. (Author), Joannopoulos, John (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), Kassakian, John (Contributor), Celanovic, Ivan (Contributor), Joannopoulos, John D. (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press, 2012-07-16T20:11:57Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 In this paper we explore theory, design, and fabrication of photonic crystal (PhC) based selective thermal emitters. In particular, we focus on tailoring spectral and spatial properties by means of resonant enhancement in PhC's. Firstly, we explore narrow-band resonant thermal emission in photonic crystals exhibiting strong spectral and directional selectivity. We demonstrate two interesting designs based on resonant Q-matching: a vertical cavity enhanced resonant thermal emitter and 2D silicon PhC slab Fano-resonance based thermal emitter. Secondly, we examine the design of 2D tungsten PhC as a broad-band selective emitter. Indeed, based on the resonant cavity coupled resonant modes we demonstrate a highly selective, highly-spectrally efficient thermal emitter. We show that an emitter with a photonic cut-off anywhere from 1.8 mm to 2.5 mm can be designed.