Controlling thermal radiation in 1D bodies made from lithium niobates or liquid crystals

Abstract

Thermal radiation of one-dimensional bodies is theoretically investigated. Null-gap and zero-index are found to impact photon gas. Thermal parameters of thermal radiation energy, photon gas pressure, specific heat, equilibrium number and entropy are controllable via manipulation of optical parameters and geometry. When thickness or refractive index augments, the thermal radiation energy associated with 1D bodies holding null-photonic-gap first suppresses and then enhances. It is interesting to see the negative thermal radiation energy, which illustrates the absorption of thermal energy. Furthermore, the photon gas pressure, the entropy, the specific heat and the equilibrium number are all suppressed by increasing the refractive index or layer thickness ratio. The thermal radiation along with zero-refractive-index can be blocked in these bodies with specific design of photonic parameters. This implies new application of 1D bodies for fabrication of novel functional photonic devices.