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Volumetric ThermoPhotonics

Objective

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) can absorb heat from their surroundings and act as refrigerators and heat pumps, but this requires increasing their already high efficiency. Overcoming the current engineering and fabrication challenges and using high refractive index materials, however, opens new possibilities for developing thermodynamic machines based on electroluminescence and thermophotonics.

In v-TPX we explore thermodynamically optimal light emitters enabling high performance thermophotonic (TPX) heat pumps and study the opportunities and physics arising from the resulting fundamental change in the operating mode of the LED. Such LEDs start to eat heat from their lattice and surroundings, radiating it out as light, with no need for heat sinks. The developed volumetric approaches facilitate both thermal insulation and reharvesting of the emitted optical energy, potentially allowing to pursue new device constructions for optical coolers and far field v-TPX machines.

The core of the v-TPX project rests on new contact geometries and volumetric control of the optical emission from optimized thin-film (TF) GaAs based LEDs using high refractive index materials allowing mode-space matching. Together these eliminate the optical confinement, ideally increasing the emission power of planar TF-LEDs by an order of magnitude.

Developing LEDs with over 100% wall-plug efficiency is a target that can disrupt the design and heat management paradigms of LEDs. Even more importantly, demonstration of TPX machines paves way for new cool applications of LEDs and related physics and research fields with significant importance for the future semiconductor technologies.

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Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) ERC-2025-ADG

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Host institution

AALTO KORKEAKOULUSAATIO SR
Net EU contribution
€ 3 368 122,00
Address
OTAKAARI 1
02150 Espoo
Finland
Region
Manner-Suomi Helsinki-Uusimaa Helsinki-Uusimaa
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
No data

Beneficiaries (1)