The curated directory of non-commercial institutions where emissivity and thermal radiative properties are actively researched. Inclusion criteria, tier logic, and limitations are documented in the methodology; corrections and additions go through the editorial board. Directory revision: 2026-09-25.
Formal networks, projects and series that connect the laboratories on the map. Each links to a profile with its scope and the map institutions it names publicly.
French research network on extreme heat: thermal radiation–matter interaction from the UV to the IR, materials for extreme environments, and high-temperature systems.
EHU Thermomat member since June 2026
Joint research project of the European Partnership on Metrology building a metrological framework for passive radiative cooling technologies, a performance that rests on emissivity and reflectance.
Consortium includes PTB, CAE, LNE, CSIC and TÜBİTAK UME
The community workshop devoted entirely to infrared emissivity measurement, so far held every two years at a member laboratory.
Founded by EHU Thermomat in 2024
| Institution | Country | Tier | Capability envelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Working Group 7.35 — Emissivity | DE | core | 1 µm to 1 mm (radiometry); 1.3 µm to 100 µm (emissivity) · −40 °C to ~2300 °C |
| CEMHTI-CNRS — Conditions Extrêmes et Matériaux : Haute Température et Irradiation Infrared emission / reflection / transmission spectroscopy activities | FR | core | FTIR-based IR/visible spectroscopy, from ~1 mm to ~0.5 µm · reflectance and transmittance from room temperature; emittance from 500 K to 2700 K under CO₂-laser heating |
| PROMES-CNRS — Procédés, Matériaux et Énergie Solaire Thermal-radiation metrology / Solar-energy materials | FR | core | up to ~1500 °C |
| Center for Applied Energy Research (CAE) Advanced Thermal Management (head: Jochen Manara) | DE | core | broad applied-metrology facilities over a wide temperature range |
| Institute of Scientific Instruments, Czech Academy of Sciences Cryogenics group — radiative-properties activities | CZ | core | ~20 K to 320 K |
| IMT Mines Albi / Institut Clément Ader (ICA), UMR CNRS 5312 ICA — directional spectral emissivity instrumentation | FR | core | 1–11 µm · ~600–1000 °C |
| Thermomat — Thermophysical Properties of Materials Research Group, EHU Thermomat — Thermophysical Properties of Materials | ES | core | Modular high-performance infrared emissometer; FAIR-compliant data structure and workflows. Member of the Functional Materials res… |
| University of West Bohemia / New Technologies — Research Centre (NTC) Photo-thermal properties laboratory (NTC) | CZ | core | low- and high-temperature work |
| Institute VINČA High-temperature thermophysical-property measurement — direct pulse heating | RS | core | wide high-temperature range (metals and alloys) |
| CNR-INO — Istituto Nazionale di Ottica Smart and Solar Energy Materials Lab | IT | core | 0.2 to 50 µm · up to 1000 °C (spectral emittance vs. temperature) |
| NIST — National Institute of Standards and Technology Physical Measurement Laboratory / Sensor Science Division | US | core | visible through far infrared · 250 K to 1400 K (blackbody references) |
| AIST / NMIJ — National Metrology Institute of Japan Network Database System for Thermophysical Property Data (TPDS) | JP | core | Database infrastructure for curated thermophysical-property data; R&D on nearly ideal blackbody materials and high-emissivity refe… |
| DLR Institute of Planetary Research — Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory (PSL) | DE | core | 0.3 µm to >100 µm · −200 °C to +1000 °C (including heated planetary-analog samples; Venus/Mercury surface conditions) |
| NPL — National Physical Laboratory Thermal metrology — radiation thermometry and emissivity | GB | core | 2 µm to 14 µm (CCT-S1 comparison scope) · 23 °C to 800 °C (CCT-S1 comparison scope) |
| Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais MATIS platform — Thermal characterisation of materials | FR | core | 250 nm to 20 µm (directional spectral emissivity, at 12°, 24°, 36°, 48° and 60°) · Total hemispherical emissivity −20 °C to 200 °C (calorimetric); directional spectral emissivity facility up to 1500 °C (Hay et al., 2014) |
| Institution | Country | Tier | Capability envelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) JEDI — Joint Emissivity Database Initiative | US | extended | thermal infrared |
| USGS — Spectroscopy Laboratory / Astrogeology Science Center USGS Spectroscopy Laboratory — Spectral Library | US | extended | Large spectral-reflectance library; laboratory work on Mars analog materials and shocked minerals; thermal emission and hemispheri… |
| Arizona State University — Thermal Emission Spectroscopy Laboratory (Christensen Research Group) Christensen Research Group / Thermal Emission Spectroscopy Laboratory | US | extended | thermal IR spectral library, typically ~2000–220 cm⁻¹ |
| Brown University — RELAB (Reflectance Experiment Laboratory) RELAB — Reflectance Experiment Laboratory (NASA-supported multi-user facility) | US | extended | UV–VIS through far-IR; FTIR to ~100 µm |
| LTeN-CNRS / Nantes Université — Laboratoire de Thermique et Énergie de Nantes LTeN — high-temperature radiative properties of architectured ceramics | FR | extended | up to 1500 °C |
| ONERA — DOTA, Optics and Associated Techniques MELOPEE laboratory — optical properties of materials | FR | extended | infrared detector characterization 1–20 µm; optical properties from visible to IR |
| Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE Lab Characterization of Functional Surfaces | DE | extended | 0.3–2.4 µm and 1.9–17 µm (FTIR + integrating spheres) · room temperature (spectrophotometric) |
| CIEMAT — Plataforma Solar de Almería OPAC — Optical Characterization and Aging laboratory | ES | extended | 0.28–2.5 µm (solar absorptance); 2–14 µm (thermal emittance, FTIR + integrating sphere) · room temperature (spectrophotometric); aging under concentrated solar conditions |
| ESA ESTEC — Materials and Electrical Components Laboratory Materials & Electrical Components Laboratory (TEC Directorate) | NL | extended | UV–VIS–NIR–IR |
| TÜBİTAK UME — National Metrology Institute of Türkiye Radiation Temperature Laboratory, Physics Group | TR | extended | Radiation thermometry and calibration of blackbodies and infrared calibrators; participant in European Partnership on Metrology pr… |
| NASA Goddard Space Flight Center — Thermal Coatings Contamination and Coatings Engineering Branch (Code 546) | US | extended | solar and thermal infrared bands |
| European Commission Joint Research Centre, Karlsruhe Fuels and Materials Research (FMR) laboratory | DE | extended | 515–980 nm (256-channel spectro-pyrometer); fast pyrometer at 655 nm · Spectral emissivity above 1500 K; laser-heating experiments beyond 3000 K |
| Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung Division 8.3 Thermographic Methods | DE | extended | 0.9–1.7 µm (SWIR hyperspectral line imaging) · Melt-pool temperatures of about 1300–2700 K observed in situ (Breese & Altenburg 2025) |
| Instituto de Ciencias de la Construcción Eduardo Torroja (IETcc-CSIC) Physico-Chemical Testing Unit | ES | extended | Reflectance \(380\text{–}1700\ \mathrm{nm}\); thermal emittance from directional-hemispherical reflectance in six bands over \(1.5\text{–}21\ \text{µm}\) |
| Institution | Country | Tier | Capability envelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanford University — Fan Group (Shanhui Fan) Fan Group — Ginzton Laboratory, Department of Electrical Engineering | US | engineered | Thermal photonics and radiative cooling; design of engineered emissivity through nanophotonic structures; foundational work on the… |
| Columbia University — Nanfang Yu Group Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics | US | engineered | long-wavelength infrared |
| University of Utah — TIFT Lab (Thermal Innovations for FuTure) Thermal Innovations for FuTure (TIFT) Lab — Department of Mechanical Engineering | US | engineered | Research on thermal radiative properties with emissivity of materials and photon transport inside materials as explicit thrusts. |
| Vanderbilt University — Caldwell Nanophotonic Materials and Devices Lab Caldwell Nanophotonic Materials and Devices Lab | US | engineered | infrared |
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — Heat Island Group / Cool Surfaces Heat Island Group — Cool Surfaces research | US | engineered | Research on cool roofs and cool walls defined through thermal emittance and solar reflectance; linkage to urban-heat-island mitiga… |
| UCLA — Raman Lab Raman Lab, Materials Science and Engineering | US | engineered | solar and sky-window (8–13 µm) bands |
| Purdue University — Ruan Group Ruan Group, School of Mechanical Engineering | US | engineered | solar spectrum + 8–13 µm sky window · field demonstrations under full sun |
| University of Chicago — Hsu Group Hsu Group, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering | US | engineered | solar + mid-infrared bands |
| KAIST — Jang Lab Jang Lab, School of Electrical Engineering | KR | engineered | solar + mid-infrared bands |
| Nanjing University — Jia Zhu Group College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures | CN | engineered | solar + sky-window bands |
| University of Technology Sydney — Gentle / Smith School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences | AU | engineered | solar + 8–13 µm sky window · field demonstrations (roof scale) |
| University of North Texas — Nanoscale Energy Transport Lab Nanoscale Energy Transport (NET) Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering | US | engineered | 400 nm – 20 µm (lunar dust simulant study) · Room temperature |
| Institution | Country | Tier | Capability envelope |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Virginia — Hopkins Group (ExSiTE Lab) Patrick Hopkins Group (ExSiTE Lab) — ultra-high-temperature materials / laser-heating radiometry | US | emerging | room temperature to ~4000 °C (as stated by the group; i.e. up to the melting points of refractory carbides) |
| Ruhr University Bochum — LEAT (Department of Energy Plant Technology) LEAT — experimental combustion investigations | DE | emerging | Application-driven setups for combustion-relevant materials; dedicated experimental setup for spectral normal emissivity of solid … |
| University of Wisconsin–Madison Kats Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering | US | emerging | infrared |
| Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) | US | emerging | Conference-affiliated contributor; talk was on apparent emissivity of semitransparent samples at PTB. |
| Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt Sensorik laboratory (Prof. Jürgen Hartmann) | DE | emerging | MWIR InSb camera with a narrowband filter at 2040 nm (Höfflin et al. 2024) · In-situ thermography calibrated for 500–1500 K (Höfflin et al. 2024) |
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