Transformation Thermotics for Thermal Conduction and Radiation

Abstract

Apart from conduction and convection, thermal radiation is the third fundamental mechanism of heat transfer. Any object with a non-zero temperature can emit thermal radiation through electromagnetic waves, which means the thermal energy is converted into electromagnetic energy. From the insight of electromagnetic waves, the transport of thermal radiation can be naturally incorporated into the framework of transformation optics. However, one lacks a model dealing with heat flux resulting from thermal conduction and radiation at the same time and also it is necessary to efficiently control the thermal radiation described by the Stefan-Boltzmann law by using the transformation theory. For this purpose, in this chapter we introduce a radiation model called Rosseland diffusion approximation [1] and establish a transformation theory for thermal radiation associated with conduction within a single framework [2]. As model applications, we also use the theory to develop thermal cloaking, concentrating, and rotating for thermal radiation.