Asymmetry-induced radiative heat transfer in Floquet systems

TL;DR

This paper develops a microscopic theory for radiative heat transfer in Floquet systems, revealing how nonequilibrium electronic fluctuations and system asymmetries enable tunable heat transfer, with implications for energy control and thermal technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel microscopic framework for understanding radiative heat transfer in time-modulated Floquet systems, emphasizing the role of nonequilibrium electronic fluctuations and asymmetries.

Findings

Heat transfer driven by electronic property differences despite identical conditions.

Exponential-staircase photon distribution induced by nonequilibrium fluctuations.

Tunable heat transfer via microscopic and driving parameters.

Abstract

Time modulation opens new avenues for light, heat control, and energy harvesting, yet the impact of nonequilibrium dynamics of microscopic particles remains largely unexplored. We develop a microscopic theory to describe radiative heat transfer in such Floquet systems. Significant heat transfer occurs due to differences in electronic properties between parallel metal plates, despite identical driving protocols and temperatures. This arises from a unique exponential-staircase distribution of radiative photons, induced by nonequilibrium electronic fluctuations, and can be tuned via both microscopic properties and driving parameters. Our work highlights the importance of nonequilibrium microscopic details, unlocking new opportunities for active cooling, thermophotovoltaics, thermal imaging and manipulation, and carrier dynamics probing.