Special Physics colloquium, “Thermal-Radiation Engineering: Innovations and Opportunities”

Yuzhe Xiao

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Abstract: Every hot object emits electromagnetic radiation, which is called thermal radiation or thermal emission. Thermal radiation is a ubiquitous phenomenon, with examples including the light emitting from the sun or from an incandescent lightbulb. Even though thermal radiation has been well-known from the century-old Planck’s law, recent applications of thermal radiation in energy harvesting, radiative cooling, and sensing have led to a renewed research interest of this topic. This talk aims to focus on three aspects of thermal radiation. First, I will talk about our effort to achieve precision measurement of thermal radiation. Based on this measurement capability, I will introduce depth thermography, a new metrology method that can measure the temperature distribution of an object as a function of depth. Further, I will talk about Planck spectroscopy, a spectroscopic technique that does not require wavelength-selective components such as prisms, gratings, or interferometers—instead using the temperature dependence of Planck’s law of thermal radiation. The last part of my talk will cover the manipulation of thermal radiation, where I will show nano-second modulation of thermal radiation via modulated emissivity, with a speed much faster than the thermal time constant of the emitter. This talk will conclude with a discussion of future research opportunities of thermal-radiation with quantum effects and strong nonlinear light-matter interaction.

Lecture will be held in CoorsTek 140