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Quantum-coupling between closely-spaced surfaces via transverse photons

K. P. Sinha·A. Meulenberg·P. L. Hagelstein
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Abstract

A quantum-mechanical formulation of energy transfer between closely spaced surfaces is given. Coupling between the two surfaces arises from the atomic dipole-dipole interaction involving transverse-photon exchange. The exchange of photons at resonance enhances the radiation transfer. The interaction between two surfaces, separated by a gap, is found to be dependent upon geometric, material, frequency, dipole, and temperature factors, along with a radiation-tunneling factor for the evanescent waves. The derived geometric term has a gap-spacing (distance) dependence that varies inversely as the second power for bulk samples to the inverse fourth power for the quantum well - quantum well case. Expressions for the net power transfer, in the near-field regime, from hot to cold surface for this case is given and evaluated for representative materials.

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K. P. Sinha, A. Meulenberg, P. L. Hagelstein. 2006-10-16. Quantum-coupling between closely-spaced surfaces via transverse photons. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0606184

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