Near-field radiative heat transfer in a chain of nanoparticles with another chain in proximity

Many-body interaction has complex effect on near-field radiative heat transfer (NFRHT) in particulate systems, which can not only enhance but also inhibit NFRHT. This work studies the NFRHT in a chain of particles (main chain) with another chain in proximity (proximate chain) at room temperature based on the many-body radiative heat transfer theory. Both dielectric and metallic particles are considered. Significant many-body effect is observed with the existence of a proximate chain in the near field, which generally inhibits heat transfer in the main chain. Meanwhile, the energy density distribution around the main chain is weakened. The proximate chain has weaker inhibition effect on NFRHT in the Ag main chain than that on NFRHT in the SiC main chain. The SiC proximate chain inhibits NFRHT in the SiC main chain more significantly than the Ag proximate chain, which is attributed to strong coupling of localized surface phonon resonance (LSPR) between the particles in the two chains around the characteristic thermal wavelength. For Ag main chain, however, due to mismatch between the thermal frequency and the particle resonance frequency, the proximate chain shows very weak effect on NFRHT in the main chain. The proximate chain with various translation distances in its longitudinal direction has negligible effect on NFRHT in the main chain. This work will help the understanding of the effect of many-body interaction on NFRHT in particulate system.