Modulation of near-field heat transfer between two gratings

TL;DR

This paper theoretically explores how the heat transfer between two anisotropic gratings can be significantly modulated by adjusting their relative orientation, achieving up to 90% change at room temperature.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control near-field heat transfer via orientation of uniaxial anisotropic structures, revealing a strong modulation effect.

Findings

Heat flux can be modulated up to 90% by changing the optical axes' angle.

The modulation effect is significant at room temperature.

The study provides insights for thermal management applications.

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of near-field heat transfer between two uniaxial anisotropic planar structures. We investigate how the distance and relative orientation (with respect to their optical axes) between the objects affect the heat flux. In particular, we show that by changing the angle between the optical axes it is possible in certain cases to modulate the net heat flux up to 90% at room temperature, and discuss possible applications of such a strong effect.