Blackbody Radiation in the Nanothermodynamic Limit

****技术摘要****该奖项支持构建和研究包含数百万个原子，但与典型的热波长相比较小的热辐射体，使用由碳纳米管、石墨烯和钨纳米线构成的细丝。在这个尺寸范围内，白炽灯散热器的工作区域既不完全处于量子力学极限，也不完全处于热力学极限。这项研究将需要在纳米尺度上对极端温度梯度中的热传递有更好的理解。结合微加工器件和透射电子显微镜表征，这些研究将扩展独特的成像单色热法技术，并与时间相关单光子计数（TCSPC）相关测量相补充。由于纳米灯几乎是黑色的，并且在相同的奇异尺寸到波长范围内工作，因此对它们的相干性进行基准测试可能会为黑洞和霍金辐射的量子物理学提供进一步的见解。该项目将支持培养一名博士生，该博士生必须掌握技术前沿关键领域的广泛技能，包括微加工、电子集成和纳米材料。****非技术摘要****该奖项支持微型白炽灯的建造和研究。纳米灯的碳丝很像爱迪生最初使用的那种，但要小十亿倍。与它发出的光的波长相比，典型的白炽灯的尺寸很大。直到最近，微加工技术才发展到可以制造出“小”灯的程度，这种灯可以在相反的极限下工作，并发射出容易被探测到的光子。这种灯的研究将探索在亚微米长度尺度上温度变化数千度的设备中的热传输机制。此外，小灯是理想的阐明热辐射的相干性，这与常见的误解相反，不是完全不相干的。在这种未被探索的状态下对白炽灯辐射的新测量将改善目前对小长度尺度上的热传输、热光子的相干性以及量子力学和热力学之间关系的理解。这样的测量甚至可以揭示黑洞的物理学，与它们发出的热霍金辐射相比，黑洞也被认为是“小”的。该项目将支持培养一名博士生，该博士生必须掌握技术前沿关键领域的广泛技能，包括微加工、电子集成和纳米材料。

****TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****This award supports the construction and study of thermal radiators that contain millions of atoms but are small in comparison to a typical thermal wavelength, using filaments constructed with carbon nanotubes, graphene, and tungsten nanowires. Incandescent radiators in this size regime operate in an area that is wholly in neither the quantum mechanical nor the thermodynamic limit. This investigation will require an improved understanding of thermal transport in extreme temperature gradients at the nanoscale. Combining microfabricated devices and transmission electron microscopy characterization, these studies will extend unique imaging single-color pyrometry techniques and complement them with time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) correlation measurements. Because the nanolamps are approximately black and operate in the same exotic size-to-wavelength regime, benchmarking their coherence properties may provide further insight into the quantum physics of black holes and Hawking radiation. This project will support the training of a PhD student, who will necessarily master a wide array of skills in critical areas on the technological frontier, including microfabrication, electronics integration, and nanomaterials.****NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT****This award supports the construction and study of tiny incandescent lamps. The nanolamps have carbon filaments much like those originally used by Edison, but a billion times smaller. A typical incandescent lamp has dimensions that are large in comparison to the wavelengths of the light that it emits. Only recently has microfabrication technology advanced to the point where it is now possible to build "small" lamps that operate in the opposite limit and emit easily detected optical photons. The study of such lamps will probe the mechanisms of heat transport in devices where the temperature changes by thousands of degrees on sub-micrometer length scales. Furthermore, small lamps are ideal for elucidating the coherence properties of thermal radiation, which contrary to the common misconception, is not completely incoherent. New measurements of incandescent radiation in this unexplored regime will improve the current understanding heat transport at small length scales, the coherence properties of thermal photons, and the relationships between quantum mechanics and thermodynamics. Such measurements may even shed light on the physics of black holes, which are also thought to be "small" in comparison to the thermal Hawking radiation that they emit. This project will support the training of a PhD student, who will necessarily master a wide array of skills in critical areas on the technological frontier, including microfabrication, electronics integration, and nanomaterials.