Breakdown of Fluctuational Electrodynamics in the Extreme Near Field

Abstract

Fluctuational electrodynamics relies on the assumption that thermal fluctuations in distinct bodies are statistically independent. It is shown that this approximation breaks down in the extreme near-field regime, where hybridization of surface phonon-polaritons across nanometric vacuum gaps generates finite fluctuating-current cross correlations between opposite interfaces. Using a microscopic coupled-oscillator model combined with a Green-tensor formulation of the Poynting vector, the resulting correlation-induced correction to radiative heat transfer is derived. For polar materials, these correlations become significant when the hybridization energy approaches the intrinsic damping rate and can substantially modify conventional fluctuational-electrodynamics predictions at subnanometric separations.