Quantum-coupling between closely-spaced surfaces via transverse photons

Abstract

A quantum-mechanical formulation of energy transfer between closely spaced surfaces is given. Coupling between the two surfaces arises from the atomic dipole-dipole interaction involving transverse-photon exchange. The exchange of photons at resonance enhances the radiation transfer. The interaction between two surfaces, separated by a gap, is found to be dependent upon geometric, material, frequency, dipole, and temperature factors, along with a radiation-tunneling factor for the evanescent waves. The derived geometric term has a gap-spacing (distance) dependence that varies inversely as the second power for bulk samples to the inverse fourth power for the quantum well - quantum well case. Expressions for the net power transfer, in the near-field regime, from hot to cold surface for this case is given and evaluated for representative materials.