# Photonic refrigeration from time-modulated thermal emission

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel active photonic cooling mechanism based on time-modulated thermal emission, which can approach the Carnot limit without relying on luminescence, opening new possibilities for cooling and energy harvesting.

## Contribution

It proposes a new photonic cooling method utilizing temporal modulation of thermal emission, bypassing the need for luminescence efficiency constraints.

## Key findings

- High thermodynamic performance approaching Carnot limit
- Does not rely on luminescence efficiency
- Enables new active control of thermal emission for cooling

## Abstract

Active photonic cooling is of significant importance to realize robust, compact, vibration-free, all-solid-state refrigeration. Currently proposed photonic cooling approaches are based on luminescence and impose stringent requirements on luminescence efficiency. We propose a new photonic cooling mechanism arising from temporal modulation of thermal emission. We show that this mechanism has a high thermodynamic performance that can approach the Carnot limit and yet does not rely on luminescence. Further, our work opens exciting new avenues in active, time-modulated control of thermal emission for cooling and energy harvesting applications.