Optimized Colossal Near‐Field Thermal Radiation Enabled by Manipulating Coupled Plasmon Polariton Geometry

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 33; no. 52; pp. e2106097 - n/a
• Main Authors: Shi, Kezhang, Chen, Zhaoyang, Xu, Xinan, Evans, Julian, He, Sailing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.12.2021; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Blackbody; Coupled plasmon; Coupled plasmon polariton; coupled plasmon polaritons; Electric tuning; Electromagnetic wave polarization; Emitters; Fermi level; Graphene; Graphene fermi level; Materials science; Multilayer graphene; Multilayer graphene/SU8 heterostructure; multilayer graphene/SU8 heterostructures; Multilayers; Nanoscale heat transfer manipulation; Nanoscale heat transfers; Nanotechnology; Optimization; Optoelectronics; Orders of magnitude; Phonons; Photons; Plasmon-polaritons; Plasmons; Polaritons; Surface plasmon resonance; Thermal radiation; Tuning; coupled plasmon polaritons; graphene Fermi level; electric tuning; multilayer graphene/SU8 heterostructures; nanoscale heat transfer manipulation
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202106097

Collective optoelectronic phenomena such as plasmons and phonon polaritons can drive processes in many branches of nanoscale science. Classical physics predicts that a perfect thermal emitter operates at the black body limit. Numerous experiments have shown that surface phonon polaritons allow emission two orders of magnitude above the limit at a gap distance of ≈50 nm. This work shows that a supported multilayer graphene structure improves the state of the art by around one order of magnitude with a ≈1129‐fold‐enhancement at a gap distance of ≈55 nm. Coupled surface plasmon polaritons at mid‐ and far‐infrared frequencies allow for near‐unity photon tunneling across a broad swath of k‐space enabling the improved result. Electric tuning of the Fermi‐level allows for the detailed characterization and optimization of the colossal nanoscale heat transfer. Coupled plasmon polaritons excited by gap‐bridging multilayer graphene/SU8 heterostructures lead to near‐perfect photon‐tunneling probability and improve the state of the art by one order of magnitude in near‐field thermal radiation (NFTR). Electric tuning of the graphene Fermi‐level allows for optimized NFTR enhancement. Colossal energy transfer should inspire potential applications in thermophotovoltaic and so on.