MAE Seminar – Polarization Characterization of Thermal Emission from Micro/Nanostructured Materials

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MAE Seminar – Polarization Characterization of Thermal Emission from Micro/Nanostructured Materials

Dear Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Faculty, and Staff,
You are invited!
UF Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering’s Seminar Series
This is a perfect opportunity to enjoy some coffee, cookies, and captivating talks! These sessions feature amazing guest speakers, from academic trailblazers and industry movers to our very own faculty candidates showing off their expertise and fresh perspectives. Come for the treats, stay for the engaging discussions, and connect with fellow MAE enthusiasts. Everyone is welcome!

December 3, 2024, at 12:50pm, Location: MAE-A 303

Zhuomin Zhang, Ph.D.
J. Erskine Love, Jr. Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract
Thermal emission is often viewed as unpolarized and nearly isotropic. For micro/nanostructured metasurfaces, however, the emission can be linearly or circularly polarized. The polarization state is fully characterized by the Stokes vector that consists of four independent parameters, allowing to distinguish the linearly and circularly polarized portions from the unpolarized portion. We use fluctuation electrodynamics to directly calculate thermal emission from multilayer structures, and an indirect method based on Kirchhoff’s law to simulate thermal emission from complicated nanostructures, such as twisted gratings for the design of polarization tailored thermal emission. In terms of reflection or transmission, the 44 Mueller matrix is needed to completely determine the polarimetric responses. Calculation of the Mueller matrix has been performed across a wide range of scenarios, including bianisotropic media and materials without Lorentz reciprocity. A symmetry classification scheme has been developed to simplify ellipsometry analysis. A mid-infrared polarimeter has been built and tested using nanostructured samples, and the measurement results are compared to calculations using full-wave solutions. This work helps understand the polarization feature of thermal emission from micro/nanostructures for the design and realization of polarization control of thermal radiation.

Biography
Zhuomin Zhang is the J. Erskine Love, Jr. Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China and Ph.D. degree from MIT. He worked at NIST and University of Florida before joining Georgia Tech. His research interests are in micro/nanoscale heat transfer especially nanoscale thermal radiation. Dr. Zhang has co-authored more than 220 journal papers and given over 400 invited and contributed presentations. He currently serves as an Editor-in-Chief of the Annual Review of Heat Transfer and an associate editor of several prestigious journals. Dr. Zhang is an ASME Fellow and Honorary Member, AAAS Fellow, and APS Fellow. He was a recipient of the 1999 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award, 2015 ASME Heat Transfer Memorial Award, 2021 ASME Yeram S. Touloukian Award, and 2021 AIAA Thermophysics Award.

MAE Faculty Host: Jingjing Shi