Modulation of near-field heat transfer between two gratings

We present a theoretical study of near-field heat transfer between two uniaxial anisotropic planar structures. We investigate how the distance and relative orientation (with respect to their optical axes) between the objects affect the heat flux. In particular, we show that by changing the angle between the optical axes it is possible in certain cases to modulate the net heat flux up to 90% at room temperature, and discuss possible applications of such a strong effect

Breakdown of detailed balance for thermal radiation by synthetic fields

In recent times the possibility of non-reciprocity in heat transfer between two bodies has been extensively studied. In particular the role of strong magnetic fields has been investigated. A much simpler approach with considerable flexibility would be to consider heat transfer in synthetic electric and magnetic fields which are easily applied. We demonstrate the breakdown of detailed balance for the heat transfer function $\mathcal{T} ({\omega})$, i.e. the spectrum of heat transfer between two objects due to the presence of synthetic electric and magnetic fields. The spectral measurements carry lot more physical information and were the reason for the quantum theory of radiation. We demonstrate explicitly the synthetic field induced non-reciprocity in the heat transfer transmission function between two graphene flakes and for the Casimir coupling between two objects. Unlike many other cases of heat transfer, the latter case has interesting features of the strong coupling. Further the presence of synthetic fields affects the mean occupation numbers of two membranes and propose this system for the experimental verification of the breakdown of detailed balance

Enhancement of synthetic magnetic field induced nonreciprocity via bound states in continuum in dissipatively coupled systems

The nonreciprocal propagation of light typically requires use of materials like ferrites or magneto-optical media with a strong magnetic bias or methods based on material nonlinearities which require use of strong electromagnetic fields. A simpler possibility to produce nonreciprocity is to use spatio-temporal modulations to produce magnetic fields in synthetic dimensions. In this paper we show that dissipatively coupled systems can lead to considerable enhancement of nonreciprocity in synthetic fields. The enhancement comes about from the existence of nearly nondecaying mode -bound state in continuum (BIC) in dissipatively coupled systems. The dissipative coupling occurs in a wide class of systems coupled via transmission lines, waveguides, or nano fibers. The systems could be optical resonators or microscopic qubits. Remarkably we find that for specific choice of the modulation amplitudes, the transmission say in forward direction is completely extinguished whereas in the backward direction it becomes maximum. The synthetic fields produce transmission resonances which show significant line narrowing which owe their origin to existence of BIC's in dissipative systems

The plasmonic eigenvalue problem

A plasmon of a bounded domain $\Omega\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ is a non-trivial bounded harmonic function on $\mathbb{R}^n\setminus\partial\Omega$ which is continuous at $\partial\Omega$ and whose exterior and interior normal derivatives at $\partial\Omega$ have a constant ratio. We call this ratio a plasmonic eigenvalue of $\Omega$. Plasmons arise in the description of electromagnetic waves hitting a metallic particle $\Omega$. We investigate these eigenvalues and prove that they form a sequence of numbers converging to one. Also, we prove regularity of plasmons, derive a variational characterization, and prove a second order perturbation formula. The problem can be reformulated in terms of Dirichlet-Neumann operators, and as a side result we derive a formula for the shape derivative of these operators.Comment: 22 pages; replacement 8-March-14: minor corrections; to appear in Review in Mathematical Physic