Thermal origin of light emission in non-resonant and resonant tunnel junctions
Abstract
Electron tunneling is associated with light emission. In order to elucidate its generating mechanism, we provide a novel experimental ansatz that employs fixed-distance epitaxial graphene as metallic electrodes. In contrast to previous experiments, this permits an unobscured light spread from the tunnel junction, enabling both a reliable calibration of the visible to infrared emission spectrum and a detailed analysis of the dependence of the parameters involved. In an open, non-resonant geometry, the emitted light is perfectly characterized by a Planck spectrum. In an electromagnetically resonant environment, resonant radiation is added to the thermal spectrum, both being strictly proportional in intensity. In full agreement with a simple heat conduction model, we provide evidence that in both cases the light emission stems from a hot electronic subsystem in interaction with its linear electromagnetic environment. These very clear results should resolve any ambiguity about the mechanism of light emission in nano contacts.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2006.13854,
title = {Thermal origin of light emission in non-resonant and resonant tunnel junctions},
author = {Christian Ott and Stephan Götzinger and Heiko B. Weber},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.13854},
year = {2020}
}