Analogies between optical propagation and heat diffusion: Applications to micro-cavities, gratings and cloaks

Abstract

A new analogy between optical propagation and heat diffusion in heterogeneous anisotropic media has been proposed recently [S. Guenneau, C. Amra, and D. Veynante, Optics Express Vol. 20, 8207-8218 (2012)]. A detailed derivation of this unconventional correspondence is presented and developed. In time harmonic regime, all thermal parameters are related to optical ones in artificial metallic media, thus making possible to use numerical codes developed for optics. Then the optical admittance formalism is extended to heat conduction in multilayered structures. The concepts of planar micro-cavities, diffraction gratings, and planar transformation optics for heat conduction are addressed. Results and limitations of the analogy are emphasized.