CAREER: Coherent Understanding of Magnetic Resonance in Controlling Radiative Transport from Far to Near Field

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

1454698 - Wang Energy conservation is important especially when reserves of conventional energy sources are now fast depleting and environmental impact of conventional energy use have resulted in an urgent need for high-efficiency renewable energy sources and energy-saving materials. The success of this project will ultimately lead to wide applications of energy harvesting systems to convert solar energy and recover waste heat to power using "smart" coating materials for cooling by radiation. These smart materials are at the nano-scale sizes and efforts of this project are to address the fundamental challenges in nanoscale radiative transport. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in this research project. Two educational kits will be developed to facilitate the outreach activities with local K-12 students, through various programs at Arizona State University, in understanding materials radiative properties and the working principle of conventional AFM (atomic force microscope). The aim is to spark their interests in science and engineering as well as desires for higher education. This project aims to gain a coherent understanding of magnetic resonance in controlling radiative thermal transport across different length scales from far to near field. First, Radiative properties of fabricated metamaterials will be characterized with advanced spectrometric techniques at millimeter to micrometer scale from cryogenic to high temperatures. Second, novel far-field radiative properties of metamaterials will be numerically studied, while near-field radiative transport between metamaterials will be theoretically analyzed with fluctuational electrodynamics and experimentally probed at nanometer scale by advanced thermal metrologies. Third, nanoscale energy transport due to plasmonic local heating will be investigated with multi-physics simulation. Near-field energy transfer will be measured and experimentally probed at nanometer scale with advanced thermal metrologies and the origin of magnetic resonance. Besides advancing the fundamental understanding in nanoscale radiative transfer, the spectrometric platform enables the systematic study of radiative properties over a wide temperature range. The novel metrology of nanoscale infrared spectroscopy will provide unperceived spectrometric information at nanometer scale, while the novel nanostructures with novel radiative properties will be demonstrated for various applications in energy, thermal management, and optical data storage. The success of this CAREER program will ultimately lead to a wide range of civil, military, aerospace, and industrial applications. The research outcomes will be quickly disseminated through journal publications, conference presentations, and course teaching.