Influence of microroughness on emissivity

In this paper we revisit the absorption and thermal emission of electromagnetic radiation by a rough surface. We use a numerical simulation of the absorptivity of a grating to explore the validity of the ray tracing approach. We show that it often predicts correctly the absorptivity and emissivity of a surface with characteristic lengths on the order of a wavelength. Recent advances in the understanding of the microscopic mechanism of thermal emission in the near field are used to discuss the data and to explain this surprising result. We also identify three different regimes depending on the ratio of the period to the wavelength: the homogenization regime, the resonance regime, and the geometrical optics regime. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.