@article {615, title = {Many-body heat radiation and heat transfer in the presence of a nonabsorbing background medium}, journal = {Physical Review B}, volume = {95}, year = {2017}, month = {Feb-15-2017}, abstract = {

Heat radiation and near-field radiative heat transfer can be strongly manipulated by adjusting geometrical shapes, optical properties, or the relative positions of the objects involved. Typically, these objects are considered as embedded in vacuum. By applying the methods of fluctuational electrodynamics, we derive general closed-form expressions for heat radiation and heat transfer in a system of N arbitrary objects embedded in a passive nonabsorbing background medium. Taking into account the principle of reciprocity, we explicitly prove the symmetry and positivity of transfer in any such system. Regarding applications, we find that the heat radiation of a sphere as well as the heat transfer between two parallel plates is strongly enhanced by the presence of a background medium. Regarding near- and far-field transfer through a gas like air, we show that a microscopic model (based on gas particles) and a macroscopic model (using a dielectric contrast) yield identical results. We also compare the radiative transfer through a medium like air and the energy transfer found from kinetic gas theory.

}, issn = {2469-9950}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.95.085413}, url = {https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.085413}, author = {M{\"u}ller, Boris and Incardone, Roberta and Antezza, Mauro and Emig, Thorsten and Kr{\"u}ger, Matthias} } @article {617, title = {Nonequilibrium Fluctuational Quantum Electrodynamics: Heat Radiation, Heat Transfer, and Force}, journal = {Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-11-2017}, pages = {119 - 143}, abstract = {

Quantum-thermal fluctuations of electromagnetic waves are the cornerstone of quantum statistics and inherent to phenomena such as thermal radiation and van der Waals forces. Although the principles are found in elementary texts, recent experimental and technological advances make it necessary to come to terms with counterintuitive consequences at short scales\—the so-called near-field regime. We focus on three manifestations: (a) The Stefan\–Boltzmann law describes radiation from macroscopic bodies but fails for small objects. (b) The heat transfer between two bodies at close proximity is dominated by evanescent waves and can be orders of magnitude larger than the classical (propagating) contribution. (c) Casimir forces, dominant at submicron separation, are not sufficiently explored for objects at different temperatures (at least experimentally). We explore these phenomena using fluctuational quantum electrodynamics (QED), introduced by Rytov in the 1950s, combined with scattering formalisms. This enables investigation of different material properties, shapes, separations, and arrangements.

}, issn = {1947-5454}, doi = {10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-031016-025203}, url = {http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-conmatphys-031016-025203}, author = {Bimonte, Giuseppe and Emig, Thorsten and Kardar, Mehran and Kr{\"u}ger, Matthias} }