Splitting of temperature distributions due to dual-channel photon heat exchange in many-body systems

Abstract

We investigate the radiative heat transfer and spatial distributions of stationary temperatures in periodic many-body systems composed of alternating slabs of two different materials. We show that temperature distributions exhibit an alternating spatial pattern and split into two distinct components, with each component corresponding to one of the two materials. Spatial temperature variations following the periodicity of the structure can be attributed to a dual-channel photon heat exchange through a long-range coupling of electromagnetic modes supported by bodies of the same material. We also analyze the thermal relaxation of the temperatures in the system to verify potential applications in dynamical situations. The results reveal that tunable nonmonotonic temperature variations can be also designed and utilized at a transient mode. The dual-channel mechanism to control temperature distributions proposed in the present work may pave new avenues for prospective applications in nano devices, especially for thermal photon-driven logic circuitry and thermal management.