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Full-Text Articles in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Engineering The Spectrum Of Near-Field Thermal Radiation, Saman Zare Dec 2022

Engineering The Spectrum Of Near-Field Thermal Radiation, Saman Zare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Thermal emission observed at sub-wavelength distances from the thermal source is referred to as near-field thermal radiation. Thermal radiation in the near-field regime can exceed Planck’s blackbody limit by orders of magnitude and be quasi-monochromatic. Due to these unique properties, near-field thermal radiation is very promising for several thermal management and energy harvesting applications. Many of these applications, such as nanogap thermophotovoltaics and thermal rectification, require near-field spectra that are not found among natural materials. Artificial metamaterials, which are engineered at the sub-wavelength scale, have been theoretically proposed for tuning the spectrum of near-field thermal radiation. However, engineering the near-field …


Nanophotonics For Dark Materials, Filters, And Optical Magnetism, Mengren Man Aug 2016

Nanophotonics For Dark Materials, Filters, And Optical Magnetism, Mengren Man

Open Access Dissertations

Research on nanophotonic structures for three application areas is described, a near perfect optical absorber based on a graphene/dielectric stack, an ultraviolet bandpass filter formed with an aluminum/dielectric stack, and structures exhibiting homogenizable magnetic properties at infrared frequencies. The graphene stack can be treated as a effective, homogenized medium that can be designed to reflect little light and absorb an astoundingly high amount per unit thickness, making it an ideal dark material and providing a new avenue for photonic devices based on two-dimensional materials. Another material stack arrangement with thin layers of metal and insulator forms a multi-cavity filter that …


Plasmonics On The Slope Of Enlightenment: The Role Of Transition Metal Nitrides, U. Guler, A. Kildishev, A. Boltasseva, V. Shalaev Jan 2015

Plasmonics On The Slope Of Enlightenment: The Role Of Transition Metal Nitrides, U. Guler, A. Kildishev, A. Boltasseva, V. Shalaev

U. Guler

The key problem currently faced by plasmonics is related to material limitations. After almost two decades of extreme excitement and research largely based on the use of noble metals, scientists have come to a consensus on the importance of exploring alternative plasmonic materials to address application-specific challenges to enable the development of new functional devices. Such a change in motivation will undoubtedly lead to significant advancements in plasmonics technology transfer and could have a revolutionary impact on nanophotonic technologies in general. Here, we report on one of the approaches that, together with other new material platforms, mark an insightful technology-driven …