Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. An infrared (IR) emission device, comprising:a plurality of fabricated nano-scale polaritonic material structures arranged on a substrate, the polaritonic material structures comprising at least one ferroelectric material;an electrical power source configured to induce a strain in the ferroelectric material; anda heater configured to apply heat to at least one of the polaritonic material structures wherein the heater comprises boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond;wherein heat from the heater causes the at least one polaritonic material structure to produce an IR emission; andwherein a predetermined wavelength, a predetermined linewidth, or a predetermined amplitude of the IR emission from the at least one polaritonic material structure can be obtained by an application of a predetermined electrical bias from the electrical power source to the ferroelectric material. 2. The IR emission device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one polaritonic material structure is formed from a polaritonic core having a ferroelectric material coating thereon. 3. The IR emission device according to claim 2, wherein the polaritonic core is silicon carbide (SiC) and the ferroelectric material coating is aluminum nitride (AlN). 4. The IR emission device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one polaritonic material structure is formed from a polaritonic ferroelectric material. 5. The IR emission device according to claim 4, wherein the polaritonic ferroelectric material is AlN or barium strontanate. 6. The IR emission device according to claim 4, wherein at least some of the polaritonic material structures are coated with a thermal dissipation layer. 7. The IR emission device according to claim 1, wherein the array of fabricated nano-scale polaritonic material structures comprises an array of silicon carbide bowtie nanoantennas. 8. The IR emission device according to claim 1, further comprising a thermal dissipation layer disposed between the substrate and the polaritonic material structures. 9. An infrared (IR) emission device, comprising:a plurality of fabricated nano-scale polaritonic material structures arranged on a substrate, the one polaritonic material structures comprising at least one phase change material; anda heater configured to apply heat to at least one of the polaritonic material structures, wherein the heater comprises boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond;wherein heat from the heater causes the at least one polaritonic material structure to produce an IR emission; andwherein a predetermined wavelength, a predetermined linewidth, or a predetermined amplitude of the IR emission from the at least one polaritonic material structure can be obtained by changing the local dielectric function of the phase change material in a predetermined manner. 10. The IR emission device according to claim 9, wherein the local dielectric function of the phase change material is changed by a predetermined heating of at least one of the polaritonic material structures. 11. The IR emission device according to claim 9, wherein the local dielectric function of the phase change material is changed by a predetermined laser excitation of at least one of the polaritonic material structures. 12. The IR emission device according to claim 9, further comprising a voltage source configured to apply an electrical bias to the at least one of the phase change material structures;wherein the local dielectric function of the phase change material is changed by an application of a predetermined voltage bias to the phase change material. 13. The IR emission device according to claim 9, wherein the at least one polaritonic material structure is formed from a polaritonic core having a phase change material coating thereon. 14. The IR emission device according to claim 13, wherein the polaritonic core is silicon carbide (SiC) and the phase change material is vanadium oxide (VO2), vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), germanium-antimony-tellurium (GeSbTe), or tungsten trioxide (WO3). 15. The IR emission device according to claim 9, wherein the at least one polaritonic material structure is formed from a polaritonic phase change material. 16. The IR emission device according to claim 15, wherein the polaritonic phase change material is vanadium dioxide (VO2) or vanadium pentoxide (V2O5). 17. The IR emission device according to claim 15, wherein at least some of the polaritonic material structures are coated with a thermal dissipation layer. 18. The IR emission device according to claim 9, wherein the array of fabricated nano-scale polaritonic material structures comprises an array of silicon carbide bowtie nanoantennas. 19. The IR emission device according to claim 9, further comprising a thermal dissipation layer disposed between the substrate and the polaritonic material structures. 20. An infrared (IR) emission device, comprising:a plurality of fabricated nano-scale polaritonic material structures arranged on a substrate, at least some of the polaritonic material structures being coated with a thermal dissipation material layer; anda heater configured to apply heat to at least one of the polaritonic material structures, wherein the heater comprises boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond;wherein heat from the heater causes the at least one polaritonic material structure to produce an IR emission; andwherein a predetermined amplitude, a predetermined wavelength, or a predetermined linewidth of the IR emission from the at least one polaritonic material structure can be obtained by selectively applying heat to and removing heat from the at least one polaritonic material structure. 21. The IR emission device according to claim 20, wherein the thermal dissipation layer is nanodiamond or boron arsenide. 22. An infrared (IR) emission device, comprising:a plurality of fabricated polaritonic material structures arranged on a thermal dissipation layer; anda heater configured to apply heat to at least one of the polaritonic material structures, wherein the heater comprises boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond;wherein heat from the heater causes the at least one polaritonic material structure to produce an IR emission; andwherein at least one of a predetermined amplitude, a predetermined wavelength, and a predetermined linewidth of the IR emission can be obtained by selectively applying heat to and removing heat from the at least one polaritonic material structure. 23. The IR emission device according to claim 22, wherein the thermal dissipation layer is nanodiamond or boron arsenide. 24. An infrared (IR) emission device, comprising:a first plurality of fabricated nano-scale first polaritonic material structures arranged on a substrate, the first polaritonic material structures comprising at least one ferroelectric material; anda second plurality of fabricated nano-scale second polaritonic material structures arranged on the substrate, the second polaritonic material structures comprising at least one phase change material;an electrical power source configured to induce a strain in the ferroelectric material; anda heater configured to apply heat to at least one of the first and second polaritonic material structures, wherein the heater comprises boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond;wherein heat from the heater causes the at least one polaritonic material structure to produce an IR emission; andwherein a predetermined spatially varying wavelength, a linewidth, or amplitude of the IR emission can be obtained by an application of a predetermined electrical bias from the electrical power source to a predetermined plurality of the first and/or second polaritonic material structures. 25. The IR emission device according to claim 24, further wherein the wavelength, linewidth, or amplitude of the second polaritonic material structures is changed by a predetermined heating of the second polaritonic material structures. 26. The IR emission device according to claim 24 wherein the wavelength, linewidth, or amplitude of the second polaritonic material structures is changed by a predetermined laser excitation of at least one of the polaritonic material structures.