Heat flux exchanged between two hot bodies at subwavelength separation distances can exceed the limit predicted by the blackbody theory. However, this super-Planckian transfer is restricted to these separation distances. Here we demonstrate the possible existence of a super-Planckian transfer at arbitrary large separation distances if the interacting bodies are connected in the near field with weakly dissipating hyperbolic waveguides. This result opens the way to long-distance transport of near-field thermal energy.

• Received 16 June 2016
• Revised 19 August 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.104301