Changing the emission of polarized thermal radiation from metallic nanoheaters

The polarization of the thermal radiation emitted from individual nanoheaters is investigated for nanoheaters with widths ranging from 500 nm to 2000 nm. The polarization is oriented along the long axis of the nanoheater for widths below 600 nm and rotates by 90° and becomes perpendicular for widths above 900 nm. For certain width nanoheaters the orientation of the polarization of the thermal emission can be rotated from parallel to perpendicular by changing the temperature of the nanoheater. The change in the direction of the emitted thermal radiation is explained by thermally excited transverse plasmon modes. © 2009 Optical Society of America.