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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Maximal violation of Kirchhoff's law in planar heterostructures

Lu Wang (汪璐)1, F. Javier García de Abajo1,2, and Georgia T. Papadakis1,*

  • 1ICFO-Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona), Spain
  • 2ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain

  • *georgia.papadakis@icfo.eu
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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L022051 – Published 7 June, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.5.L022051

Abstract

Violating Kirchhoff's law is generally achieved using patterned nonreciprocal materials, where a guided or polaritonic mode that lies outside the light cone, often via gratings, is excited. Here, we describe how nonreciprocity manifests itself in pattern-free heterostructures. We demonstrate that a resonant mode in a dielectric spacer separating a nonreciprocal film from a back reflector suffices to maximally violate Kirchhoff's law, and identify the minimal dielectric requirements for such functionality, which are satisfied by currently available materials.

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Phys. Rev. Research 5, L022051– Published 7 June, 2023
  • Received 18 February 2023
  • Accepted 18 May 2023
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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