Binary Thermal Encoding by Energy Shielding and Harvesting Units

Abstract

Optical and thermal metamaterial-based structures have been extensively explored, yielding many interesting functionalities; in what other ways can they be used? This study, following the basic rules of transformation optics (here thermotics), demonstrates another application: thermal encoding, based on binary states of heat flux for bit values of 0 and 1, by means of thermal energy shielding and harvesting units. This approach is a fresh alternative to existing implementations for thermal memory or computing.