Thermal antenna behavior for thin-film structures.
I show that under proper conditions, thin-film structures behave as thermal sources that are able to emit radiation in well-defined directions over a broad spectral band for both p- and s-polarization states of light. This effect results from the quantization of modes inside the structure as in a Fabry-Perot resonator. A theoretical demonstration of this effect is given by using the matrix transfer method. This result is similar to the most efficient reported results with gratings but with use of a completely different physical principle [Nature 416, 61 (2002)].
Ben-Abdallah
Philippe
P
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Polytechnique, Laboratoire de Thermocinétique, 44306 Nantes, France. philippe.benabdallah@polytech.univ-nantes.fr