by: Jon Atherton
Enshrined by the laws of Austrian physicists Josef Stefan and Ludwig Boltzmann in the late 19th Century, scientists have long understood the general principles of heat-energy transfer between the sun and planet Earth.
But at much closer separations, where photons can effectively “tunnel” between two bodies, the maximum rate and size at which two objects – one hot, one cold – can transfer heat has remained unknown.
From their emerging field of near-field nanophotonics, a group of Yale scientists have taken a new step in advancing the ‘Stefan-Boltzmann law’ by creating a mathematical framework to identify the upper bounds of light interactions and radiative energy transfer. Read full article at YaleNews.
