CAREER: Blackbody radiation in the nanothermodynamic limit

* 非技术性摘要 * 尽管不了解量子力学和相对论的现代理论，但马克斯·普朗克1900年描述热辐射的黑体定律一再出现在当前研究的前沿。该学院早期职业奖资助了一个项目，该项目将批判性地研究纳米物体的黑体辐射，并在多个层面上改善科学教育。 在实验中，碳纳米管将被配置为灯泡灯丝，它们的温度将由它们发出的辐射的颜色决定。 与所有普通灯泡中的灯丝不同，这些灯丝与它们发射的辐射波长相比很窄，因此它们不在经典热力学有效的通常范围内。挑战在于阐明普朗克定律的修正，这些修正与材料无关，而是仅与尺寸和维度有关。 对这些效应的深入理解不仅会影响热力学与量子力学的交叉等基本领域，而且还会影响非常具体的未解决问题。 参与这项研究的研究生将学习技能，为他们未来的科学事业做好准备。该奖项资助的教育改进利用了黑体辐射的普遍性。 课程和活动将针对高中到研究生院以及普通公众的多个层次的教育。 由于目前可以观察到的黑体辐射来自大爆炸和烤箱等各种来源，它在物理学研究的最前沿和日常生活之间形成了一座天然的桥梁。技术摘要 * 尽管普朗克的黑体辐射定律并不为现代量子力学和相对论所知，但它却一再出现在当前研究的前沿。 这个教师早期职业奖资助一个项目，将严格审查黑体辐射在纳米热力学极限，并提高科学教育在几个层次。 该项目将通过实验研究与其热辐射的特征波长相比较小的热辐射器，并且热，热能尺度大于量子能级间距。 碳纳米管将被配置为灯泡灯丝，它们的温度将通过超分辨率光学高温计来确定。 挑战在于阐明普朗克定律的修正，这些修正与材料无关，而是仅与尺寸和维度有关。 对这些效应的深入理解不仅会影响热力学与量子力学的交叉等基本领域，而且还会影响非常具体的开放问题，例如量化声致发光气泡中的温度。 参与这项研究的研究生将学习技能，为他们未来的科学事业做好准备。该奖项资助的教育改进利用了黑体辐射的普遍性。 课程和活动将针对高中到研究生院以及普通公众的多个层次的教育。 由于目前可以观察到的黑体辐射来自大爆炸和烤箱等各种来源，因此它在物理学研究的最前沿和日常生活之间形成了一座天然的桥梁。

****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****Despite being uninformed by the modern theories of quantum mechanics and relativity, Max Planck's 1900 blackbody law describing thermal radiation appears repeatedly at the forefront of current research. This Faculty Early Career Award funds a project that will critically examine blackbody radiation from nanoscopic objects, and improve science education at several levels. Experimentally, carbon nanotubes will be configured as light bulb filaments, and their temperature will be determined by the color of the radiation they emit. Unlike those in all normal light bulbs, these filaments are narrow compared to the wavelength of the radiation they emit, and thus they are outside the usual regime where classical thermodynamics is expected to be valid. The challenge is to elucidate the modifications to Planck's law that are not material-dependent, but rather functions only of size and dimensionality. A deeper understanding of these effects will impact not only such fundamental areas as the intersection of thermodynamics with quantum mechanics, but also very specific unsolved problems. The graduate students involved with this research will learn skills that will equip them for future scientific careers. The educational improvements funded by this award exploit the ubiquity of blackbody radiation. Courses and activities will be aimed at education at many levels, high school through graduate school, as well as the general public. As blackbody radiation is currently observable coming from sources as varied as the Big Bang and toaster ovens, it forms a natural bridge between the very forefront of physics research and everyday life.****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****Despite being uninformed by the modern theories of quantum mechanics and relativity, Planck's venerable blackbody radiation law appears repeatedly at the forefront of current research. This Faculty Early Career Award funds a project that will critically examine blackbody radiation in the nanothermodynamic limit, and improve science education at several levels. This project will experimentally investigate thermal radiators that are small compared to their thermal radiation's characteristic wavelength, and hot, with thermal energy scale larger than the quantum level spacings. Carbon nanotubes will be configured as light bulb filaments, and their temperature will be determined by super-resolution optical pyrometry. The challenge is to elucidate the modifications to Planck's law that are not material-dependent, but rather functions only of size and dimensionality. A deeper understanding of these effects will impact not only such fundamental areas as the intersection of thermodynamics with quantum mechanics, but also very specific open problems, such as quantifying the temperatures achieved in sonoluminescing bubbles. The graduate students involved with this research will learn skills that will equip them for future scientific careers. The educational improvements funded by this award exploit the ubiquity of blackbody radiation. Courses and activities will be aimed at education at many levels, high school through graduate school, as well as the general public. As blackbody radiation is currently observable coming from sources as varied as the Big Bang and toaster ovens, it forms a natural bridge between the very forefront of physics research and everyday life.