Temperature dependence of a microstructured SiC coherent thermal source

- We study temperature dependence of SiC coherent thermal sources.
- We couple experimental SiC optical data with reference literature׳s grating.
- Gratings are optimized to have best emission peak for each temperature.
- An example of narrow IR emitter for a large range of temperatures is shown.
- We explain this in the light of surface wave physics and dispersion relation.

By ruling a grating on a polar material that supports surface phonon-polaritons such as silicon carbide (SiC), it is possible to create directional and monochromatic thermal sources. So far, most of the studies have considered only materials with room temperature properties as the ones tabulated in Palik׳s handbooks. Recently, measurements have provided experimental data of the SiC dielectric function at different temperatures. Here we study, numerically, the effect of the temperature dependence of the dielectric function on the thermal emission of SiC gratings (1D grating, in a first approach), heated at different temperatures. When materials are heated, the position of the grating emissivity peak shifts towards higher wavelength values. A second consequence of the temperature dependence of optical properties is that room temperature designed gratings are not optimal for higher temperatures. However, by modifying the grating parameters, it is possible to find an emission peak, with a maximum of emissivity near 1, for each temperature. We tried first to catch some patterns in the emissivity variation. Then, we obtained a grating, which leads to an optimum emissivity for all available temperature data for SiC.