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Coherent emission of light by thermal sources

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Jacques Greffet

    (Laboratoire EM2C, CNRS
    The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester)

  • Rémi Carminati

    (Laboratoire EM2C, CNRS)

  • Karl Joulain

    (Laboratoire EM2C, CNRS)

  • Jean-Philippe Mulet

    (Laboratoire EM2C, CNRS)

  • Stéphane Mainguy

    (CEA CESTA)

  • Yong Chen

    (Laboratoire de Microstructures et de Microélectronique, CNRS)

Abstract

A thermal light-emitting source, such as a black body or the incandescent filament of a light bulb, is often presented as a typical example of an incoherent source and is in marked contrast to a laser. Whereas a laser is highly monochromatic and very directional, a thermal source has a broad spectrum and is usually quasi-isotropic. However, as is the case with many systems, different behaviour can be expected on a microscopic scale. It has been shown recently1,2 that the field emitted by a thermal source made of a polar material is enhanced by more than four orders of magnitude and is partially coherent at a distance of the order of 10 to 100 nm. Here we demonstrate that by introducing a periodic microstructure into such a polar material (SiC) a thermal infrared source can be fabricated that is coherent over large distances (many wavelengths) and radiates in well defined directions. Narrow angular emission lobes similar to antenna lobes are observed and the emission spectra of the source depends on the observation angle—the so-called Wolf effect3,4. The origin of the coherent emission lies in the diffraction of surface-phonon polaritons by the grating.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Jacques Greffet & Rémi Carminati & Karl Joulain & Jean-Philippe Mulet & Stéphane Mainguy & Yong Chen, 2002. "Coherent emission of light by thermal sources," Nature, Nature, vol. 416(6876), pages 61-64, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:416:y:2002:i:6876:d:10.1038_416061a
    DOI: 10.1038/416061a
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    Cited by:

    1. Kaili Sun & Keren Wang & Wenyu Li & Yangjian Cai & Wei Wang & Yuri Kivshar & Zhanghua Han, 2026. "Structured coherent thermal emission from non-Hermitian metasurfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Wijewardane, S. & Goswami, Yogi, 2012. "Exergy of partially coherent thermal radiation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 497-502.
    3. Xiu Liu & Yibai Zhong & Zexiao Wang & Tianyi Huang & Sen Lin & Jingyi Zou & Haozhe Wang & Zhien Wang & Zhuo Li & Xiao Luo & Rui Cheng & Jiayu Li & Hyeong Seok Yun & Han Wang & Jing Kong & Xu Zhang & S, 2025. "Electrically programmable pixelated coherent mid-infrared thermal emission," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Kaili Sun & Guangdong Wang & Wenyu Li & Yinghan Wang & Yangjian Cai & Lujun Huang & Andrea Alù & Zhanghua Han, 2025. "Full polarization and high coherence control of thermal emissions via saddle-band dispersion engineering," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Wijewardane, S. & Goswami, Yogi, 2014. "Extended exergy concept to facilitate designing and optimization of frequency-dependent direct energy conversion systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 204-214.
    6. Jie Ji & José A. Sánchez-Gil & Djero Peeters & Wouter Holman & Thanh Xuan Hoang & Dook van Mechelen & Jaime Gómez Rivas, 2025. "Near-field probing of the local density of optical states enhanced by bound states in the continuum in nonlocal metasurfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Kaili Sun & Haoye Qin & Mengqi Liu & Feng Chen & Yangjian Cai & Pinghui Wu & Cheng-Wei Qiu & Zhanghua Han, 2026. "Helicity-selective and spectrally tunable chiral thermal emissions," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Joel Siegel & Shinho Kim & Margaret Fortman & Chenghao Wan & Mikhail A. Kats & Philip W. C. Hon & Luke Sweatlock & Min Seok Jang & Victor Watson Brar, 2024. "Electrostatic steering of thermal emission with active metasurface control of delocalized modes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    9. Dasom Kim & Jin Hou & Geon Lee & Ayush Agrawal & Sunghwan Kim & Hao Zhang & Di Bao & Andrey Baydin & Wenjing Wu & Fuyang Tay & Shengxi Huang & Elbert E. M. Chia & Dai-Sik Kim & Minah Seo & Aditya D. M, 2025. "Multimode phonon-polaritons in lead-halide perovskites in the ultrastrong coupling regime," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, December.
    10. Rui Chen & Tianle Chen & Mengqi Liu & Xingsi Liu & Sen Zhang & Faizan Raza & Hongguang Dong & Yongdi Dang & Zejie Yu & Huan Hu & Jianbin Xu & Cheng-Wei Qiu & Yungui Ma, 2026. "Ultra-coherent meta-emitter tailors arbitrary thermal wavefront," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-10, December.
    11. Saaketh Desai & Sadhvikas Addamane & Jeffrey Y. Tsao & Igal Brener & Remi Dingreville & Prasad P. Iyer, 2026. "Self-driving lab discovers principles for steering spontaneous emission beyond conventional Fourier optics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 17(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Ziwei Fan & Taeseung Hwang & Sam Lin & Yixin Chen & Zi Jing Wong, 2024. "Directional thermal emission and display using pixelated non-imaging micro-optics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    13. Kaili Sun & Yangjian Cai & Lujun Huang & Zhanghua Han, 2024. "Ultra-narrowband and rainbow-free mid-infrared thermal emitters enabled by a flat band design in distorted photonic lattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. J. Enrique Vázquez-Lozano & Iñigo Liberal, 2023. "Incandescent temporal metamaterials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

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