Heat transfer between a nano-tip and a surface
  We study quasi-ballistic heat transfer through air between a hot nanometer-scale tip and a sample. The hot tip/surface configuration is widely used to perform nonintrusive confined heating. Using a Monte-Carlo simulation, we find that the thermal conductance reaches 0.8 MW.m-2K-1 on the surface under the tip and show the shape of the heat flux density distribution (nanometer-scale thermal spot). These results show that a surface can be efficiently heated locally without contact. The temporal resolution of the heat transfer is a few tens of picoseconds. 
Pierre-Olivier Chapuis (EM2C), Jean-Jacques Greffet (EM2C), Karl   Joulain (LET), Sebastian Volz (EM2C)