FDTD simulation of near-field radiative heat transfer between thin films supporting surface phonon polaritons: Lessons learned

Abstract

We present the numerical simulation, using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, of the radiative heat transfer between two thin SiC slabs. We aim to explore the ability of the FDTD method to reproduce the analytical results for the Surface Phonon Polariton (SPhP) assisted near field radiative energy transfer between two SiC slabs separated by a nano/micro-metric vacuum gap. In this regard, we describe the key challenges that must be addressed for simulating general near-field radiative energy transfer problems using the FDTD method. FDTD is a powerful technique for simulating the near-field radiative energy transfer because it allows simulating arbitrary shaped nano-structured bodies, like photonic crystals, for which an analytical solution is not readily obtained. © 2013 by JSME.