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A photon thermal diode

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Chen

    (University of California)

  • Carlaton Wong

    (University of California)

  • Sean Lubner

    (University of California)

  • Shannon Yee

    (University of California)

  • John Miller

    (University of California)

  • Wanyoung Jang

    (University of California)

  • Corey Hardin

    (University of California)

  • Anthony Fong

    (University of California)

  • Javier E. Garay

    (University of California)

  • Chris Dames

    (University of California
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Abstract

A thermal diode is a two-terminal nonlinear device that rectifies energy carriers (for example, photons, phonons and electrons) in the thermal domain, the heat transfer analogue to the familiar electrical diode. Effective thermal rectifiers could have an impact on diverse applications ranging from heat engines to refrigeration, thermal regulation of buildings and thermal logic. However, experimental demonstrations have lagged far behind theoretical proposals. Here we present the first experimental results for a photon thermal diode. The device is based on asymmetric scattering of ballistic energy carriers by pyramidal reflectors. Recent theoretical work has predicted that this ballistic mechanism also requires a nonlinearity in order to yield asymmetric thermal transport, a requirement of all thermal diodes arising from the second Law of Thermodynamics, and realized here using an ‘inelastic thermal collimator’ element. Experiments confirm both effects: with pyramids and collimator the thermal rectification is 10.9±0.8%, while without the collimator no rectification is detectable (

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Chen & Carlaton Wong & Sean Lubner & Shannon Yee & John Miller & Wanyoung Jang & Corey Hardin & Anthony Fong & Javier E. Garay & Chris Dames, 2014. "A photon thermal diode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-6, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6446
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6446
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