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Applied physics

Controlled incandescence

Nature volume 478, pages 191–192 (2011)Cite this article

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Sources of incandescence emit their radiation across a broad spectrum. The finding that metamaterials can be used to tune the sources' emission spectrum makes these emitters an attractive prospect for some applications.

When a material is at high temperature, it emits light — a phenomenon called incandescence. This is how tungsten filaments in light bulbs produce light. Yet, for most applications, these thermal sources of light are inefficient because they radiate over a broad spectrum. Writing in Physical Review Letters, Liu et al.1 describe how metamaterials can be used to design a thermal source that has a controlled, narrow emission spectrum in the infrared regime. Metamaterials are materials that have been engineered to contain nanostructures that give them novel properties.

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Figure 1: Infrared thermal emitter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jean-Jacques Greffet is at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d'Optique, CNRS, Université Paris Sud, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France.,

    Jean-Jacques Greffet

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  1. Jean-Jacques Greffet
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Correspondence to Jean-Jacques Greffet.

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Greffet, JJ. Controlled incandescence. Nature 478, 191–192 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/478191a

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