R.M. Feenstra, A. Vaterlaus, et al.
Applied Physics Letters
A material has been developed which allows a new approach to be made to the conversion of solar energy to heat. It consists of a dense array of metal whiskers grown with spacings of a few wavelengths of visible light. The material selected has low emissivity, and achieves significant optical absorption by trapping the light by a geometric maze effect. We have deomonstrated that absorption of normal incidence light is greater than 98% from 0.5 to 40-μm wavelengths, and hemispherical emissivity at 550°C can be made less than 0.26. Since surfaces can be made of a single refractory element, such as W, high-temperature solar conversion (550°C) should be maintained with good surface stability.
R.M. Feenstra, A. Vaterlaus, et al.
Applied Physics Letters
J.F. Ziegler, G.W. Cole, et al.
Applied Physics Letters
J.F. Ziegler
Nuclear Instruments and Methods
M.H. Brodsky, Manuel Cardona, et al.
Physical Review B