Tailoring high-temperature radiation and the resurrection of the incandescent source
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Author(s)
Bermel, Peter
Ilic, Ognjen
Chen, Gang
Joannopoulos, John
Celanovic, Ivan L.
Soljacic, Marin
Date Issued
January 2016
Journal
Nature Nanotechnology
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Ilic, Ognjen; Bermel, Peter; Chen, Gang; Joannopoulos, John D.; Celanovic, Ivan and Soljačić, Marin. “Tailoring High-Temperature Radiation and the Resurrection of the Incandescent Source.” Nature Nanotechnology 11, no. 4 (January 2016): 320–324. © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited
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Original manuscript
Abstract
In solar cells, the mismatch between the Sun's emission spectrum and the cells’ absorption profile limits the efficiency of such devices, while in incandescent light bulbs, most of the energy is lost as heat. One way to avoid the waste of a large fraction of the radiation emitted from hot objects is to tailor the thermal emission spectrum according to the desired application. This strategy has been successfully applied to photonic-crystal emitters at moderate temperatures but is exceedingly difficult for hot emitters (>1,000 K). Here, we show that a plain incandescent tungsten filament (3,000 K) surrounded by a cold-side nanophotonic interference system optimized to reflect infrared light and transmit visible light for a wide range of angles could become a light source that reaches luminous efficiencies (∼40%) surpassing existing lighting technologies, and nearing a limit for lighting applications. We experimentally demonstrate a proof-of-principle incandescent emitter with efficiency approaching that of commercial fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs, but with exceptional reproduction of colours and scalable power. The ability to tailor the emission spectrum of high-temperature sources may find applications in thermophotovoltaic energy conversion and lighting.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2015.309
