Heat transfer between two metallic surfaces at small distances

• DOI: 10.1063/1.358001
• Publication Date: 2002-07-26T13:47:51Z
• Authors: J.-B. Xu; K. Läuger; R. Möller; K. Dransfeld; I. H. Wilson
• Keywords: Air gap (plumbing)

In scanning thermal microscopy, but also in tunneling the contact between tip and sample plays an important role. The heat transfer across vacuum gap two parallel metallic surfaces, if width is decreased below several microns, has been investigated. At these distances propagating electromagnetic modes die out simultaneously a of nonpropagating surface becomes more probable. conductance should become distance dependent larger than that given by Stefan–Boltzmann law; however, experimental results theoretical considerations indicate transfer, based on discussed proximity mechanism, very small, smaller predicted theory Polder Van Hove [Phys. Rev. B 4, 3303 (1971)].