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This work addresses the validity of the local effective medium theory (EMT) in predicting the near-field radiative heat transfer between multilayered metamaterials, separated by a vacuum gap. Doped silicon and germanium are used to form the metallodielectric superlattice. Different configurations are considered by setting the layers adjacent to the vacuum spacer as metal-metal (MM), metal-dielectric (MD), or dielectric-dielectric (DD) (where M refers to metallic doped silicon and D refers to dielectric germanium). The calculation is based on fluctuational electrodynamics using the Green's function formulation. The cutoff wave vectors for surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and hyperbolic modes are evaluated. Combining the Bloch theory with the cutoff wave vector, the application condition of EMT in predicting near-field radiative heat transfer is presented quantitatively and is verified by exact calculations based on the multilayer formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Near-field thermophotovoltaic (NFTPV) devices have received much attention lately as an alternative energy harvesting system, whereby a heated emitter exchanges super-Planckian thermal radiation with a photovoltaic (PV) cell to generate electricity. This work describes the use of a grating structure to enhance the power throughput of NFTPV devices, while increasing the energy conversion efficiency by ensuring that a large portion of the radiation entering the PV cell is above the band gap. The device contains a high-temperature tungsten grating that radiates photons to a room-temperature In0.18Ga0.82Sb PV cell through a vacuum gap of several tens of nanometers. Scattering theory is used along with the rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) to calculate the radiation energy exchange between the grating emitter and the TPV cell. A parametric study is performed by varying the grating depth, period, and ridge width in the range that can be fabricated using available fabrication technologies. It is found that the power output can be increased by 40% while improving the efficiency from 29.9% to 32.0% with a selected grating emitter as compared to the case of a flat tungsten emitter. Reasons for the enhancement are found to be due to the enhanced energy transmission coefficient close to the band gap. This work shows a possible way of improving NFTPV and sheds light on how grating structures interact with thermal radiation at the nanoscale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]