Creating illusion of discrete source array by simultaneously allocating thermal and DC fields with homogeneous media

Abstract Highly efficient conversions and utilizations are long-standing topics of interest in energy field. Owing to the unique potentials of metamaterial in regulating thermal and electrical behaviors, classical research on efficient energy utilization has been further motivated. However, current investigations are mostly implemented with single basic transformation, which lead to the simple functions on single field. Hence, hybrid functions are of particular importance in achieving highly efficient devices for multiple energies. In this paper, the above concerns are addressed with hybrid maps to design a class of novel discrete source array, which significantly re-configures each field generated by an excited source into arrayed distributions. The expected energy collection and allocation are first exhibited only with one single source, and intense convergences/divergences are observed in tailored directions. Contrasts reveal that such designs robustly act as circular source arrays with multiple sources. The findings provide a novel function of efficiently manipulating and allocating energy generated by excited sources, which see potentials in conventional applications, such as extensive harvesting strategies with local energy focus, light routing on the sun-facing side of solar cells, and thermal-electric devices.