Coherent thermal radiation |
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| Authors: | Jean-Jacques Greffet Carsten Henkel |
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| Institution: | 1. Laboratoire d'énergétique Moléculaire et Macroscopique , Combustion, UPR 288 CNRS, Ecole Centrale Paris, Grande Voie de Vignes, 92295 Chatenay-Malabry Cedex, France Jean_Jacques.Greffet@em2c.ecp.fr;3. Institut für Physik, Universit?t Potsdam , Am Neuen Palais 10, 14469, Potsdam, Germany |
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| Abstract: | The radiation emitted by a heated body is generally quoted as a typical example of incoherent radiation, in distinction to laser radiation. One is nearly isotropic, the other highly directional; one is spectrally broad, the other quasi-monochromatic. It may come as a surprise that the thermal radiation of a large number of substances is coherent, both in space and time, when it is observed at a distance from the body that is shorter than the wavelength. This behaviour can be understood within an electromagnetic approach to thermal emission. Several recent experiments have confirmed these unexpected properties. |
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