ISSN Print: 1049-0787
ISSN Online: 2375-0294
Indexed in
CHEMICAL POTENTIAL OF PHOTONS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTROLLING RADIATIVE HEAT TRANSFER
ABSTRACT
In conventional photon-based heat transfer, one typically assumes that the chemical potential of photons is zero. On the other hand, when a semiconductor is under external biases, the photons with energy above the semiconductor bandgap can exhibit a nonzero chemical potential that is proportional to the applied voltage. The presence of such nonzero chemical potential points to the abilities to drastically enhance the power density of photon-based heat flow, to electronically control photon-based heat transfer, and to construct photon-based heat engines for energy harvesting and solid-state cooling. In this review, we discuss basic concepts and applications of chemical potential of photons in controlling radiative heat transfer.