ABSTRACT: Light, or electromagnetic waves, is perhaps the most important carrier of energy. The
ability to control the flow of light, especially through the use of nanophotonic structures, therefore
is of essential importance for the future development of energy technology. Moreover, light carries
both energy and entropy, and the understanding of these thermodynamic aspects of light underlies
some of the fundamental considerations of light‐based energy technology. In this talk, we will
illustrate the connections between thermodynamics and light by discussing some of our efforts in
designing optical structures for energy harvesting. As examples, we will discuss radiative cooling, a
technology that aims to harvest the coldness of the universe. We will also introduce the concept of
non‐reciprocal thermal radiation, which may hold the key towards reaching the ultimate efficiency
limit of solar energy harvesting.

BIO: Shanhui Fan is the Joseph and Hon Mai Goodman Professor in the School of Engineering, a
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics (by courtesy), and a Senior Fellow of the
Precourt Institute for Energy, at the Stanford University. He received his Ph. D in 1997 in theoretical
condensed matter physics from the MIT. His research interests are in fundamental studies of solid
state and photonic structures and devices, especially photonic crystals, plasmonics, and metamaterials,
and applications of these structures in energy and information technology applications.
He has published over 600 refereed journal articles, has given over 400 plenary/keynote/invited
talks, and holds over 70 US patents. He is a co‐founder of two companies aiming to commercialize
high‐speed engineering computations and radiative cooling technology respectively. Prof. Fan
received a NSF Career Award (2002), a Packard Fellowship (2003), the NAS W. O. Baker Award
(2007), the OSA Adolph Lomb Medal (2007), a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (2017), a Simons
Investigator in Physics (2021), and the R. W. Wood Prize fromOptica (2022). He is aWeb of Science
Highly Cited Researcher in Physics since 2015, and a Fellow of the IEEE, the APS, the OSA, and the
SPIE.

Thermodynamics and Light flyer