Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Fan, Shanhui.
We demonstrate the first 3D ReNi inverse opal formed using low temperature electrodeposition and report superior material properties that could be interesting for applications under harsh environments.
Not Available
Not Available
Not provided.
Here we consider a near-field enhanced negative luminescent refrigeration system made of a polar material supporting surface-phonon polariton resonances and a narrow-band-gap semiconductor under a reverse bias. We show that in the near-field regime, such a device yields significant cooling power density and a high efficiency close to the Carnot limit. In addition, the performance of our system still persists even in the presence of strong nonidealities such as Auger recombination and sub-band-gap thermal radiation from free carriers.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Here, we consider an infrared photodiode under negative illumination, wherein the photodiode is maintained at a temperature T and radiatively exposed to an emissive body colder than itself. We experimentally demonstrate that a diode under such conditions can generate electrical power. Furthermore, we show theoretically that the efficiency of energy conversion can approach the Carnot limit. This work is applicable to waste heat recovery as well as emerging efforts to utilize the cold dark universe as a thermodynamic resource for renewable energy.
Not Available
We introduce a distinct class of dynamic non-reciprocal meta-surfaces with arbitrary phase-reconfigurability. This meta-surface consists of an array of meta-atoms, each of which is subject to temporal refractive index modulation, which induces photonic transitions between the states of the meta-atom. We show that arbitrary phase profile for the outgoing wave can be achieved by controlling the phase of the modulation at each meta-atom. Moreover, such dynamic meta-surfaces exhibit non-reciprocal response without the need for magneto-optical effects. The use of photonic transition significantly enhances the tunability and the possible functionalities of meta-surfaces.
We numerically demonstrate narrowband thermal emission with unity emissivity peak in the near-infrared range by critically coupling a flat tungsten surface with guided resonances of a dielectric photonic crystal slab. The tungsten surface is separated from the photonic crystal slab by a vacuum gap. The structure possesses significant tunability for both the center frequency and the linewidth of the thermal emission band. Moreover, the tungsten surface, being un-structured, should exhibit enhanced thermal stability at elevated temperature as compared to tungsten nanostructures.
Significance The coldness of the universe is an enormous but strikingly underexploited thermodynamic resource. Its direct utilization on Earth therefore represents an important frontier for renewable energy research. In many applications, including solar cells and outdoor structures, the absorption of sunlight is intrinsic either from operational or aesthetic considerations, but the resulting heating by sunlight is undesirable. Here we experimentally demonstrate a thermal photonic scheme that can cool these structures by thermal radiation to outer space, while preserving the structures’ solar absorption. Our work shows, for the first time to our knowledge, that radiative cooling can be used in combination with the utilization of sunlight, and opens new possibilities for using the coldness of the universe to improve the performance of terrestrial energy systems.
Here, we consider a near-field thermophotovoltaic device with metal as the emitter and semiconductor as the photovoltaic cell. We show that when the cell is a III-V semiconductor, such as GaSb, parasitic phonon-polariton heat transfer reduces efficiency in the near-field regime, especially when the temperature of the emitter is not high enough. We further propose ways to avoid the phonon-polariton heat transfer by replacing the III-V semiconductor with a non-polar semiconductor such as Ge. Our work provides practical guidance on the design of near-field thermophotovoltaic systems for efficient harvesting of low-quality waste heat.
When wave effects of thermal photons become significant, thermal emitters can exhibit intriguing coherent effects. Here in this paper, we show that the superradiant emission, which was originally found in quantum emitters, can be realized in resonant thermal emitters. Similar to the superradiance in quantum emitters, the in-phase oscillation of resonant emitters reduces the lifetime of thermal photons in the emitters. Unlike the atomic superradiance, one remarkable consequence of the thermal superradiance is the anomalous power scaling, where the emission power can scale inversely with the number of thermal emitters. More thermal emitters generate less power due to the coherent interference of thermal photons.
We consider near-field heat transfer with nonzero chemical potential for photons, as can occur between two semiconductor bodies, held at different temperatures with at least one of the bodies under external bias.We show that the dependence of radiative heat flux on chemical potential enables electronic control of both the direction and magnitude of near-field heat transfer between the two bodies. Moreover such a configuration can operate as a solid-state cooling device whose efficiency can approach the Carnot limit in the ideal case. Furthermore, significant cooling can also be achieved in the presence of inherent nonidealities including Auger recombination and parasitic phonon-polariton heat transfer.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
An optoelectronic device comprising an optically active layer that includes a plurality of domes is presented. The plurality of domes is arrayed in two dimensions having a periodicity in each dimension that is less than or comparable with the shortest wavelength in a spectral range of interest. By virtue of the plurality of domes, the optoelectronic device achieves high performance. A solar cell having high energy-conversion efficiency, improved absorption over the spectral range of interest, and an improved acceptance angle is presented as an exemplary device.