Thermal Photonics with Polaritonic Materials for Energy Applications

The blackbody spectrum peaks within the mid-infrared (IR) spectral range for near-room temperatures. In the mid-IR range, most dielectric materials exhibit pronounced phonon polariton resonances. In this webinar hosted by the Optics for Energy Technical Group, Georgia Papadakis will discuss means of harnessing such resonances to control the bandwidth, directionality, and state of polarization of thermal emission and radiation.

Prof. Papadakis will demonstrate that single flakes of low-dimensional materials such as a-MoO3 or V2O5 suffice to achieve mid-IR phase retardation. Harnessing the extreme anisotropy of such flakes can also yield pronounced chiral response in the mid-IR range, which we probe in thermal emission experiments. By leveraging the ultra-low-loss of phonon polaritons supported in low-dimensional materials, for instance in hexagonal boron nitride, Prof. Papadakis will demonstrate the possibility to induce antenna-like thermal emission lobes with extreme directionality, comparable to that of grating structures but realizable without any lithography. In addition, Prof. Papadakis will demonstrate how this type of photonic management of thermal emission contributes to improved light-harvesting for renewable energy applications, such as radiative cooling and thermophotovoltaic devices.

Subject Matter Level: Intermediate- Assumes basic knowledge of the topic

What You Will Learn:
• How to model thermal emission and how to probe it experimentally, as well as fundamental limits in light-harvesting with radiative heat engines.

Who Should Attend:
• Students at the doctoral level and postdocs as well as those interested in thermal management and IR photonics.

About the Presenter: Georgia T. Papadakis from ICFO

Georgia conducted her BS and MS studies in Electrical and Computer Engineering, at the National Technical University of Athens, in Greece. In 2011, she moved to CERN, in Switzerland, where she worked on the electromagnetic design of particle accelerators. In 2012, she moved to the California Institute of Technology, USA, where she conducted her doctoral studies in photonic metamaterials. In 2018, she moved to Stanford University for her postdoctoral studies in thermal radiation control. Since 2022, she is a tenure-track professor and group leader at the ICFO, in Spain. Georgia’s research pertains to radiative heat engines and photonic design for tailoring thermal emission processes, with applications in sensing, spectroscopy, and thermophotovoltaics. Georgia has been an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, a TomKat Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford, a Princeton Pathways to the Academy fellow, a la Caixa Postdoctoral Fellow, and has also received the Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship among others.