Thermal radiation in photonic crystals

Abstract

We analyze the properties of thermal radiation in photonic crystals and show that the spectral energy density, the spectral intensity, and the spectral hemispherical power are only limited by the total number of available photonic states and their propagation characteristics. In addition, we show that the central quantity that determines these thermal radiation characteristics is the area of the isofrequency surfaces and not the photonic density of states as it is generally assumed. Through the presence of partial or complete photonic band gaps and the associated spectral and angular redistribution of photonic states, it is possible to have spectral regions over which the thermal radiation intensity is enhanced relative to the free space blackbody limit and propagation directions along which thermal photon focusing effects appear.