Magnetic-field-tunable anisotropic blackbody radiation and condensation of slow thermal light in dynamical axion insulators

Abstract

Thermal radiation features of dynamical axion insulators, which are characterized by an antiferromagnetic order with simultaneously broken time-reversal and space-inversion symmetries, are investigated. Planck's radiation law is shown to exhibit remarkable anisotropic behavior as a result of the strong dispersion caused by the light-matter interaction. A crossover scenario at low temperature is identified and an associated phase highly populated by slow thermal photons is revealed. We show that the asymmetry degree of the heat radiation and its angular distribution can be controlled via a magnetic field, paving the way toward a directional-tunable mechanism for thermal quantum manipulation and storage. Analogies are drawn with the expected behavior of blackbody radiation in the core of neutron stars.