Eur. Phys. J. B (2012) 85: 233
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2012-30219-7

Regular Article

Radiative cooling of nanoparticles close to a surface

¹ Institut für Physik, Carl von Ossietzky Universität, 26111 Oldenburg, Germany
² Laboratoire Charles Fabry, UMR 8501, Institut d’Optique, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud 11, 2, avenue Augustin Fresnel, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France

^a e-mail: biehs@theorie.physik.uni-oldenburg.de

Received: 13 March 2012
Received in final form: 16 April 2012
Published online: 3 July 2012

Abstract

We study the radiative cooling of polar and metallic nanoparticles immersed in a thermal bath close to a partially reflecting surface. The dynamics of relaxation is investigated at different distances from the surface, i.e., in the near-field and far-field zones. We demonstrate the existence of an oscillating behavior for the thermal relaxation time with respect to the separation distance from the surface, an analog of Friedel oscillations in Fermi liquids.