A thermokinetic approach to radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale

Abstract

Radiative heat exchange at the nanoscale presents a challenge for several areas due to its scope and nature. Here, we provide a thermokinetic description of microscale radiative energy transfer including phonon-photon coupling manifested through a non-Debye relaxation behavior. We show that a lognormal-like distribution of modes of relaxation accounts for this non-Debye relaxation behavior leading to the thermal conductance. We also discuss the validity of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The general expression for the thermal conductance we obtain fits existing experimental results with remarkable accuracy. Accordingly, our approach offers an overall explanation of radiative energy transfer through micrometric gaps regardless of geometrical configurations and distances.

arXiv comment9 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (5)

• A mesoscopic description of radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale
• Heat transfer between nanoparticles: Thermal conductance for near-field interactions
• Proximity Effects in Radiative Transfer
• Heat exchange between two interacting nanoparticles beyond the fluctuation-dissipation regime
• Nonequilibrium Stefan-Boltzmann law

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Persistent Directional Current at Equilibrium in Nonreciprocal Many-Body Near Field Electromagnetic Heat Transfer
• Shape-Independent Limits to Near-Field Radiative Heat Transfer
• Near-field thermodynamics: Useful work, efficiency, and energy harvesting
• Near-field thermodynamics and nanoscale energy harvesting
• Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics of a Photon Gas in the Near Field