Near field thermal memory based on radiative phase bistability of VO₂

Abstract

We report the concept of a near-field memory device based on the radiative bistability effect in the system of two closely separated parallel plates of SiO2 and VO2 which exchange heat by thermal radiation in vacuum. We demonstrate that the VO2 plate, having metal-insulator transition at 340 K, has two thermodynamical steady-states. One can switch between the states using an external laser impulse. We show that due to near-field photon tunneling between the plates, the switching time is found to be only 5 ms which is several orders lower than in case of far field.