Photonic crystal high-efficiency multispectral thermal emitters

We demonstrate through numerical simulation the modification of the thermal emission spectrum by a metallic photonic crystal (PhC). Here the radiation is funneled into a narrow emission band in contrast to the broad spectrum associated with a Planckian-distribution. A detailed quantitative evaluation of the spectral, power, and angular efficiencies of a PhC thermal emitter and its portability across IR spectral bands is provided. We show that an optimized tungsten PhC possesses a predominant narrow-band forward emission profile with an emitter efficiency that is more than double that of an ideal blackbody and similar to 65-75% more power-efficient across the IR spectrum. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.2993336]