title: Near-field thermal transistor.
abstract: Using a block of three separated solid elements, a thermal source and drain together with a gate made of an insulator-metal transition material exchanging near-field thermal radiation, we introduce a nanoscale analog of a field-effect transistor that is able to control the flow of heat exchanged by evanescent thermal photons between two bodies. By changing the gate temperature around its critical value, the heat flux exchanged between the hot body (source) and the cold body (drain) can be reversibly switched, amplified, and modulated by a tiny action on the gate. Such a device could find important applications in the domain of nanoscale thermal management and it opens up new perspectives concerning the development of contactless thermal circuits intended for information processing using the photon current rather than the electric current.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Charles Fabry, UMR 8501, Institut d'Optique, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud 11, 2, Avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ben-Abdallah
authors.affiliation: Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Svend-Age
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Biehs