Anisotropic thermal magnetoresistance for an active control of radiative heat transfer

TL;DR

This paper predicts a large anisotropic thermal magnetoresistance effect in near-field radiative heat transfer between magneto-optical particles, enabling active control of heat flow with magnetic fields.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of anisotropic thermal magnetoresistance in radiative heat transfer and demonstrates its potential magnitude in magneto-optical particles like InSb.

Findings

ATMR amplitude can reach up to 800% at 5 T magnetic field.

The effect is significantly larger than electronic spintronic analogues.

Potential applications in thermal management and remote sensing.

Abstract

We predict a huge anisotropic thermal magnetoresistance (ATMR) in the near-field radiative heat transfer between magneto-optical particles when the direction of an external magnetic field is changed with respect to the heat current direction. We illustrate this effect with the case of two InSb spherical particles where we find that the ATMR amplitude can reach values of up to 800% for a magnetic field of 5 T, which is many orders of magnitude larger than its spintronic analogue in electronic devices. This thermomagnetic effect could find broad applications in the fields of ultrafast thermal management as well as magnetic and thermal remote sensing.