Perfect selective metamaterial solar absorbers

Transparent and broadband absorption-diffusion-integrated low-scattering metamaterial by standing-up lattice

In this paper, a transparent absorption-diffusion-integrated metamaterial (ADMM) based on standing-up lattice structure is proposed which takes full advantage of electromagnetic absorption and destructive interference simultaneously for the suppression of broadband backward scattering within a wide angular domain, especially for the lower-frequency scattering. The proposed ADMM is constituted by two kinds of rhombic and squared ITO lattices arranged in a pseudorandom distribution and then backed with ITO film. Calculation, simulation, and experimental measurement show that the proposed ADMM can achieve low scattering with normalized reflection less than 0.1 in the frequency band of 6.1-21.0GHz. In addition, owing to the standing-up lattice structure, the averaged optical transmittance of our ADMM reaches the optimal value of around 82.1% in the visible wavelength range of 380-780nm, promising an excellent optical transparency. The proposed comprehensive scheme provides an effective way to achieve broadband scattering suppression and high compatibility with optical transparency, enabling a wide range of applications in the window glass of stealth armament, electromagnetic compatibility facility and photovoltaic solar device.

Photonic band engineering in absorbing media for spectrally selective optoelectronic films

Spectrally selective materials are of great interest for optoelectronic devices in which wavelength-selectivity of the photoactive material is necessary for applications such as multi-junction solar cells, narrow-band photodetectors, transparent photovoltaics, and tailored emission sources. Achieving controlled transparency or opacity within multiple wavelength bands in the absorption, reflection, and transmission spectra are difficult to achieve in traditional semiconductors that typically absorb at all energies above their electronic band gap and is generally realized by the use of external bandpass filters. Here, we propose an alternate method for achieving spectral selectivity in optoelectronic thin films: the use of photonic band engineering within the absorbing region of a semiconductor in which resonant photonic bands are strongly coupled to the external reflectivity and transmission spectra. As a first step, we use optical simulations to systematically study the effect of material absorption on the properties of the photonic bands in a photonic crystal slab structure. We find that adding a weak loss to the materials model does not appreciably change the frequencies of the photonic bands but does reduce the quality factor of the associated photonic modes. Critically, the radiating photonic bands induce strong Fano resonance features in the transmission and reflection spectra, even in the presence of material absorption, due to coupling between the bands and external electromagnetic plane waves. These resonances can be tuned by adjusting the photonic crystal structural properties to induce spectral selectivity in the absorbing region of semiconductors. Lastly, we demonstrate this tuning method experimentally by fabricating a proof-of-principle photonic structure consisting of a self-assembled polystyrene bead monolayer infiltrated with PbS CQDs that displays both near-infrared absorption enhancement and visible transparency enhancement over a homogeneous control film, qualitatively matching predictions and showing promise for optoelectronic applications.

Ultra-broadband, polarization-independent, wide-angle absorption in impedance-matched metamaterials with anti-reflective moth-eye surfaces

We computationally study periodic impedance-matched metal-dielectric metamaterials and the advantage of imprinting moth-eye surfaces on them. Impedance-matched metamaterials are known to act as strong, polarization-independent, broadband absorbers. However, in the infrared region far from the metal's plasma frequency, the reflection from metal layers dominates over the absorption. Using anti-reflective moth-eye surfaces we show that it is possible to obtain absorption independent of polarization or incidence angle, over an exceptionally broad frequency range from 400 nm to 6 μm.

Design of Multilayer Ring Emitter Based on Metamaterial for Thermophotovoltaic Applications

The objective of this study is to design a broadband and wide-angle emitter based on metamaterials with a cut-off wavelength of 2.1 µm to improve the spectral efficiency of thermophotovoltaic emitters. To obtain broadband emission, we conducted the geometric parameter optimization of the number of stacked layers, the inner and outer radii of the nano-rings, and the thickness of the nano-rings. The numerical simulation results showed that the proposed emitter had an average emissivity of 0.97 within the targeted wavelength, which ranged from 0.2 µm to 2.1 µm. In addition, the presented multilayer nano-ring emitter obtained 79.6% spectral efficiency with an InGaAs band gap of 0.6 eV at 1400 K.

Flexible Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor with Metal-Insulator-Metal Nanodisks on PDMS Substrate

The small sized, flexible, high-performed and bio-compatible sensing devices are the critical elements to realize the bio-related detection or on-site health monitoring systems. In this work, the flexible localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bio-sensors were demonstrated by integrating the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanodisks with bio-compatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The different geometries of MIM nanodisk sensors were investigated and optimized to enhance the spatial overlap of the LSPR waves with the environment, which lead to a high sensitivity of 1500 nm/RIU. The omni-directional characteristics of LSPR resonances were beneficial for maintaining the device sensitivity stable under various bending curvatures. Furthermore, the flexible MIM nanodisk LSPR sensor was applied to detect A549 cancer cells in PBS+ solution. The absorption peak of the MIM-disk LSPR sensor obviously redshift to easily distinguish between the phosphate buffered saline (PBS+) solution with A549 cancer cells and without cells. Therefore, the flexible MIM nanodisk LSPR sensor is suitable to develop on-chip microfluidic biosensors for detection of cancer cells on nonplanar surfaces.

Nanophotonic control of thermal radiation for energy applications [Invited]

The ability to control thermal radiation is of fundamental importance for a wide range of applications. Nanophotonic structures, where at least one of the structural features are at a wavelength or sub-wavelength scale, can have thermal radiation properties that are drastically different from conventional thermal emitters, and offer exciting opportunities for energy applications. Here we review recent developments of nanophotonic control of thermal radiation, and highlight some exciting energy application opportunities, such as daytime radiative cooling, thermal textile, and thermophotovoltaic systems that are enabled by nanophotonic structures.

Numerical study of a wide-angle polarization-independent ultra-broadband efficient selective metamaterial absorber for near-ideal solar thermal energy conversion

Highly efficient solar absorption is very promising for many practical applications, such as power generation, desalination, wastewater treatment and steam generation. Nevertheless, so far, near-ideal solar thermal energy conversion is still difficult to achieve, which requires a near-perfect absorption from the UV to the near-infrared region and meanwhile a mid-and-far infrared absorption close to zero. Here, by employing FEM and FDTD methods respectively, a nearly omnidirectional ultra-broadband efficient selective solar absorber based on a nanoporous hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) structure is proposed and numerically demonstrated, which can achieve an extremely high average absorption efficiency above 98.9% within the range of 260–1580 nm. More significantly, in the respect of physical mechanism, the near-perfect solar absorption of this multilayered nanostructures is primarily due to the excitation of magnetic and electric resonances resulting from localized surface plasmon resonance at metal/dielectric interfaces, working completely different from those previously reported tapered multilayered absorbers associated with the slow-light effect. Besides, for retaining heat, a low emissivity is realized in mid-infrared region, causing a near-ideal total solar-thermal conversion efficiency up to 90.32% at 373.15 K (η_ideal = 95.6%), which is particularly useful in solar steam generation. Detailed studies are also performed for higher operating temperatures, which indicates efficient solar thermal conversions also can be well maintained by tuning geometric parameters at higher temperatures. Taking into consideration of the practical application, even with ±60 degrees angle of incidence, average absorptivity higher than 90% can be still obtained in the whole solar spectrum at both TE and TM polarization. The near-perfect absorption, wide angle, polarization independence, spectral selectivity and high tunability make this solar absorber promising for practical applications in solar energy harvesting.

A selective solar absorber based on a nanoporous HMM structure is numerically demonstrated to achieve near-ideal solar-thermal conversion.

Wide-angle absorption of visible light from simple bilayers

Color-selective absorption of light is a very significant operation used in numerous applications, from photonic sensing and switching to optical signal modulation and energy harnessing. We demonstrate angle-insensitive and polarization-independent absorption by thin bilayers comprising ordinary bulk media: dielectrics, semiconductors, and metals. Several highly efficient designs for each color of the visible spectrum are reported, and their internal fields' distributions reveal the resonance mechanism of absorption. The proposed bilayer components are realizable, since various physical or chemical deposition methods can be used for their effective fabrication. The absorption process is found to exhibit endurance with respect to the longitudinal dimension of the planar structure, which means that the same designs could be successfully utilized in non-planar configurations composed of arbitrary shapes.

Ultra-narrow Band Perfect Absorber and Its Application as Plasmonic Sensor in the Visible Region

We propose and numerically investigate a perfect ultra-narrowband absorber with an absorption bandwidth of only 1.82 nm and an absorption efficiency exceeding 95% in the visible region. We demonstrate that the perfect ultra-narrowband absorption is ascribed to the coupling effect induced by localized surface plasmon resonance. The influence of structural dimensions on the optical performance is also investigated, and the optimal structure is obtained with the extremely low reflectivity (0.001) of the resonance dip. The perfect absorber can be operated as a refractive index sensor with a sensitivity of around 425 nm/RIU and the figure of merit (FOM) reaching 233.5, which greatly improves the accuracy of the plasmonic sensors in visible region. Moreover, the corresponding figure of merit (FOM*) for this sensor is also calculated to describe the performance of the intensity change detection at a fixed frequency, which can be up to 1.4 × 10⁵. Due to the high sensing performance, the metamaterial structure has great potential in the biological binding, integrated photodetectors, chemical applications and so on.

Infrared Plasmonic Refractive Index Sensor with Ultra-High Figure of Merit Based on the Optimized All-Metal Grating

A perfect ultra-narrow band infrared metamaterial absorber based on the all-metal-grating structure is proposed. The absorber presents a perfect absorption efficiency of over 98% with an ultra-narrow bandwidth of 0.66 nm at normal incidence. This high efficient absorption is contributed to the surface plasmon resonance. Moreover, the surface plasmon resonance-induced strong surface electric field enhancement is favorable for application in biosensing system. When operated as a plasmonic refractive index sensor, the ultra-narrow band absorber has a wavelength sensitivity 2400 nm/RIU and an ultra-high figure of merit 3640, which are much better than those of most reported similar plasmonic sensors. Besides, we also comprehensively investigate the influences of structural parameters on the sensing properties. Due to the simplicity of its geometry structure and its easiness to be fabricated, the proposed high figure of merit and sensitivity sensor indicates a competitive candidate for applications in sensing or detecting fields.

Tungsten-based highly selective solar absorber using simple nanodisk array

In this paper, we report the design, fabrication, and characterization of a tungsten-based metamaterial selective solar absorber (SSA) combining a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure and simple nanodisk array. The as-fabricated absorber absorbs strongly and selectively in the wavelength range of 0.5-1.75 μm with a characterized absorptance of more than 90%, which drops abruptly to less than 12.6% beyond 2.5 μm. In addition, this broadband and highly selective absorber is polarization-insensitive under incidence of normal plane waves. Moreover, the solar selectivity remains invariable up to 40°, which is beneficial for solar thermal applications. These properties are verified theoretically and experimentally in the present work. Further analysis on energy dissipation reveals the underlying physics and optical performances.

Visible light nearly perfect absorber: an optimum unit cell arrangement for near absolute polarization insensitivity

In this work, we propose an optimum unit cell arrangement to obtain near absolute polarization insensitivity in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) based ultra-broadband perfect absorber. Our findings prove that upon utilizing this optimum arrangement, the response of the absorber is retained and unchanged over all arbitrary incidence light polarizations, regardless of the shape of the top metal patch. First, the impact of the geometry of the top nanopatch resonators on the absorption bandwidth of the overall structure is explored. Then, the response of the MIM design for different incidence polarizations and angles is scrutinized. Finally, the proposed design is fabricated and characterized.

Selective dual-band metamaterial perfect absorber for infrared stealth technology

We propose a dual-band metamaterial perfect absorber with a metal-insulator-metal structure (MIM) for use in infrared (IR) stealth technology. We designed the MIM structure to have surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and magnetic polariton (MP) resonance peaks at 1.54 μm and 6.2 μm, respectively. One peak suppresses the scattering signals used by laser-guided missiles, and the other matches the atmospheric absorption band, thereby enabling the suppression of long-wavelength IR (LWIR) and mid-wavelength IR (MWIR) signals from objects as they propagate through the air. We analysed the spectral properties of the resonance peaks by comparing the wavelength of the MP peak calculated using the finite-difference time-domain method with that obtained by utilizing an inductor-capacitor circuit model. We evaluated the dependence of the performance of the dual-band metamaterial perfect absorber on the incident angle of light at the surface. The proposed absorber was able to reduce the scattering of 1.54 μm IR laser light by more than 90% and suppress the MWIR and LWIR signatures by more than 92%, as well as maintain MWIR and LWIR signal reduction rates greater than 90% across a wide temperature range from room temperature to 500 °C.

Ultra-broadband, wide angle absorber utilizing metal insulator multilayers stack with a multi-thickness metal surface texture

In this paper, we propose a facile route to fabricate a metal insulator multilayer stack to obtain ultra-broadband, wide angle behavior from the structure. The absorber, which covers near infrared (NIR) and visible (Vis) ranges, consists of a metal-insulator-metal-insulator (MIMI) multilayer where the middle metal layer has a variant thickness. It is found that this non-uniform thickness of the metal provides us with an absorption that is much broader compared to planar architecture. In the non-uniform case, each thickness is responsible for a specific wavelength range where the overall absorption is the superposition of these resonant responses and consequently a broad, perfect light absorption is attained. We first numerically examine the impact of different geometries on the overall light absorption property of the multilayer design. Afterward, we fabricate the designs and characterize them to experimentally verify our numerical findings. Characterizations show a good agreement with numerical results where the optimum absorption bandwidth for planar design is found to be 620 nm (380 nm-1000 nm) and it is significantly boosted to an amount of 1060 nm (350 nm-1410 nm) for multi-thickness case.

Multiband selective absorbers made of 1D periodic Ag/SiO2/Ag core/shell coaxial cylinders horizontally lying on a planar substrate

In this paper, we present a one-dimensional periodic microstructure for multiband selective absorbers of thermal radiation. The microstructure is made of Ag/SiO₂/Ag core/shell coaxial cylinders horizontally lying on top of a SiO₂ dielectric spacer and an opaque silver substrate. The spectral-directional absorptivity of the proposed structure was numerically investigated with the finite element based Comsol Multiphysics software. Multiband selective absorption in the wavenumber range from 2500 to 20000 cm^-1 for TM-wave incidence was obtained. Physical mechanisms responsible for the multiband selective absorption were elucidated due to the resonance of magnetic polaritons in the SiO₂ spacer shell, excitation of surface plasmon polaritons at the SiO₂/Ag interface, and the effect of Wood's anomaly. Furthermore, the effects of a silver core radius, spacer shell thickness, a confocal elliptical core/shell cylinder on the property of multiband absorption, and the absorptivity of the structure with one core/four shells coaxial cylinders were explored.

Modes Coupling Analysis of Surface Plasmon Polaritons Based Resonance Manipulation in Infrared Metamaterial Absorber

Surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and standing wave modes provide interesting and exotic properties for infrared metamaterial absorbers. Coupling of these modes promises further development in this field but restricted by the complexity of modes analysis. In this work, we investigate the general phenomenon of modes coupling supported by a metal (with grating)-dielectric-metal sandwich structure based on rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) method and experiment results. Through the analysis of fundamental modes, a new approach based on the boundary conditions is introduced to reveal the coupling mechanism and the corresponding resonance shifting phenomenon with simple but rigorous derivations. The strong coupling between SPPs excited on the dielectric-metal interfaces and rigorous modes of standing waves in the dielectric layer can be manipulated to improve the detection sensitivity of sensors and emissivity efficiency of infrared emitters.

Resonance perfect absorption by exciting hyperbolic phonon polaritons in 1D hBN gratings

Natural materials with hyperbolic responses can confine light with well-defined propagation directions inside the micro/nanostructure. Here we theoretically demonstrate that strong resonance absorption can be achieved in one-dimensional gratings made of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) due to hyperbolic phonon polaritons. The radiative properties of both trapezoidal and square resonators are calculated using anisotropic rigorous coupled-wave analysis. The resonance wavelengths can be theoretically predicted and are shown to follow the anomalous or traditional scaling laws depending on the hyperbolicity. These findings may benefit the applications including photodetection, color filters, and optomechanics.

Electromagnetic wave propagations in conjugate metamaterials

In this work, by employing field transformation optics, we deduce a special kind of materials called conjugate metamaterials, which can support intriguing electromagnetic wave propagations, such as negative refractions and lasing phenomena. These materials could also serve as substrates for making a subwavelength-resolution lens, and the so-called "perfect lens" is demonstrated to be a limiting case.

Numerical study of an ultra-broadband near-perfect solar absorber in the visible and near-infrared region

We propose and numerically investigate a novel ultra-broadband solar absorber by applying iron in a 2D simple metamaterial structure. The proposed structure can achieve the perfect absorption above 95% covering the wavelength range from 400 to 1500 nm. The average absorption reaches 97.8% over this wavelength range. The broadband perfect absorption is caused by the excitation of localized surface plasmon resonance and propagating surface plasmon resonance. We first propose and demonstrate that the iron is obviously beneficial to achieve impedance matching between the metamaterial structure and the free space over an ultra-broad frequency band in the visible and near-infrared region, which play an extremely important role to generate an ultra-broadband perfect absorption. In order to further broaden the absorption band, we also demonstrate the perfect absorption exceeding 92% for the 400-2000 nm range by adding the number of metal-dielectric pairs and using both gold and iron simultaneously in the proposed structure. The average absorption of the improved absorber reaches 96.4% over the range of 400-2000 nm. The metamaterial absorbers using iron are very promising for many applications, which can greatly broaden the perfect absorption band in the solar spectrum and, meanwhile, can enormously reduce the cost in the actual production.

Infrared Perfect Ultra-narrow Band Absorber as Plasmonic Sensor

We propose and numerically investigate a novel perfect ultra-narrow band absorber based on a metal-dielectric-metal-dielectric-metal periodic structure working at near-infrared region, which consists of a dielectric layer sandwiched by a metallic nanobar array and a thin gold film over a dielectric layer supported by a metallic film. The absorption efficiency and ultra-narrow band of the absorber are about 98 % and 0.5 nm, respectively. The high absorption is contributed to localized surface plasmon resonance, which can be influenced by the structure parameters and the refractive index of dielectric layer. Importantly, the ultra-narrow band absorber shows an excellent sensing performance with a high sensitivity of 2400 nm/RIU and an ultra-high figure of merit of 4800. The FOM of refractive index sensor is significantly improved, compared with any previously reported plasmonic sensor. The influences of structure parameters on the sensing performance are also investigated, which will have a great guiding role to design high-performance refractive index sensors. The designed structure has huge potential in sensing application.

Grating-type mid-infrared light absorber based on silicon carbide material

A kind of grating-type mid-infrared light absorber based on silicon carbide (SiC) material is designed and its absorption properties are studied using the finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) method. The results show that, its absorption mechanism is the excitation of surface plasmon and magnetic polariton as well as the loss of materials. Due to the optical characteristics of the SiC material in the mid-infrared band and the truncated pyramid structure in the grating, in the range of 10.5-12.5μm and 0-80°, absorptivity of higher than 80% can be obtained with optimized structural parameters. Among six structural parameters, the layer number of the composite layers has a relatively great influence on the absorption properties, while the thickness of the dielectric layer has less influence on the absorption properties.

Spectrally Enhancing Near-Field Radiative Transfer between Metallic Gratings by Exciting Magnetic Polaritons in Nanometric Vacuum Gaps

In the present Letter, we theoretically demonstrate that near-field radiative transport between one-dimensional periodic grating microstructures separated by nanometer vacuum gaps can be spectrally enhanced by exciting magnetic polaritons. Fluctuational electrodynamics that incorporates scattering matrix theory with rigorous coupled-wave analysis is employed to exactly calculate the near-field radiative flux between two metallic gratings. In addition to the well-known coupled surface plasmon polaritons, the radiative flux can be also spectrally enhanced due to the magnetic polariton, which is excited in the gap between the grating ridges. The mechanism of magnetic polaritons in the near-field radiative transport are elucidated in detail, while the unusual enhancement cannot be predicted by either Derjaguin's or the effective medium approximations. The effects of the vacuum gap distance and grating geometry parameters between the two gratings are investigated. The findings will open a new way to spectrally control near-field radiative transfer by magnetic polaritons with micro- or nanostructured metamaterials, which holds great potential for improving the performance of energy systems like near-field thermophotovoltaics.

Novel and efficient Mie-metamaterial thermal emitter for thermophotovoltaic systems

We theoretically demonstrate a novel, efficient and cost effective thermal emitter using a Mie-resonance metamaterial for thermophotovoltaic (TPV) applications. We propose for the first time the design of a thermal emitter which is based on nanoparticle-embedded thin film. The emitter consists of a thin film of SiO₂ on the top of tungsten layer deposited on a substrate. The thin film is embedded with tungsten nanoparticles which alter the refractive index of the film. This gives rise to desired emissive properties in the wavelength range of 0.4 μm to 2 μm suitable for GaSb and InGaAs based photovoltaics. Effective dielectric properties are calculated using Maxwell-Garnett-Mie theory. Our calculations indicate this would significantly improve the efficiency of TPV cells. We introduce a new parameter to gauge the efficacy of thermal emitters and use it to compare different designs.

Efficient Thermal-Light Interconversions Based on Optical Topological Transition in the Metal-Dielectric Multilayered Metamaterials

Metal-dielectric multilayered metamaterials are proposed to work as wideband spectral-selective emitters/absorbers due to the topological change in isofrequency contour around the epsilon-near-zero point. By setting the transition at the border between the visible and IR ranges, the metal-dielectric multilayered metamaterials become good absorbers/emitters for visible light and good reflectors for IR light, which are desirable for efficient thermal-light interconversions.

Two-dimensional trilayer grating with a metal/insulator/metal structure as a thermophotovoltaic emitter

A thermophotovoltaic system that converts thermal energy into electricity has considerable potential for applications in energy utilization fields. However, intensive emission in a wide spectral and angular range remains a challenge in improving system efficiency. This study proposes the use of a 2D trilayer grating with a tungsten/silica/tungsten (W/SiO2/W) structure on a tungsten substrate as a thermophotovoltaic emitter. The finite-difference time-domain method is employed to simulate the radiative properties of the proposed structure. A broadband high emittance with an average spectral emittance of 0.953 between 600 and 1800 nm can be obtained for both transverse magnetic and transverse electric polarized waves. On the basis of the inductance-capacitance circuit model and dispersion relation analyses, this phenomenon is mainly considered as the combined contribution of surface plasmon polaritons and magnetic polaritons. A parametric study is also conducted on the emittance spectrum of the proposed structure, considering geometric parameters, polar angles, and azimuthal angles for both TM and TE waves. The study demonstrates that the emitter has good wavelength selectivity and polarization insensitivity in a wide geometric and angular range.

Electromagnetic resonance modes on a two-dimensional tandem grating and its application for broadband absorption in the visible spectrum

In this work, we numerically investigate the electromagnetic resonances on two-dimensional tandem grating structures. The base of a tandem grating consists of an opaque Au substrate, a SiO(2) spacer, and a Au grating (concave type); that is, a well-known fishnet structure forming Au/SiO(2)/Au stack. A convex-type Au grating (i.e., topmost grating) is then attached on top of the base fishnet structure with or without additional SiO(2) spacer, resulting in two types of tandem grating structures. In order to calculate the spectral reflectance and local magnetic field distribution, the finite-difference time-domain method is employed. When the topmost Au grating is directly added onto the base fishnet structure, the surface plasmon and magnetic polariton in the base structure are branched out due to the geometric asymmetry with respect to the SiO(2) spacer. If additional SiO(2) spacer is added between the topmost Au grating and the base fishnet structure, new magnetic resonance modes appear due to coupling between two vertically aligned Au/SiO(2)/Au stacks. With the understanding of multiple electromagnetic resonance modes on the proposed tandem grating structures, we successfully design a broadband absorber made of Au and SiO(2) in the visible spectrum.

Analysis of the multi-spectral inhomogeneous metasurfaces consisting of different arrays of components

The analytical method to study the multi-spectral inhomogeneous metasurfaces with various components is presented. Because of symmetrical distribution of different components, we can find the effective polarizability of the inhomogeneous metasurfaces. This polarizability provides equivalent conductivity of each metasurface with two and three different nanodisk arrays. Full-wave simulations confirm the analysis of inhomogeneous metasurfaces. In a metasurface, symmetrical distribution of components with a unique periodicity is limited to three types in a hexagonal combination. Then we extend the proposed approach to partly symmetric inhomogeneous metasurfaces in subwavelength scale for four different nanodisks. Also, monolayer and multi-layer absorbers consisting of inhomogeneous metasurfaces with graphene nanodisks are designed as the examples of wideband applications of this method in infrared regime.

Optical coherent thermal emission by excitation of magnetic polariton in multilayer nanoshell trimer

A theoretical demonstration is given of coherent thermal emission via the visible region by exciting magnetic polaritons in isolated metal-dielectric-metal multilayer nanoshells and the collective behavior in a trimer comprising multilayer nanoshells. The dipolar metallic core induces magnetic polaritons in the dielectric shell creating a large enhancement of the emissivity, whose mechanism is different from that of film-coupled metamaterials. The coupling effect of the magnetic polaritons and the electric/magnetic modes of symmetric nanoparticle trimers is discussed to understand the collective behavior in self-assembled nanoparticle clusters with potential solar energy utilizations. The concept of hybridization is employed to understand the collective magnetic polaritons of a multilayer nanoshell trimer. The fundamental understanding gained herein opens up new ways to explore, control, and tailor spectral absorptance, thus facilitating rational design of novel self-assembled nanoclusters for energy harvesting.

Wide-angle and polarization independent perfect absorber based on one-dimensional fabrication-tolerant stacked array

We propose a wide-angle, polarization independent and fabrication-tolerant perfect absorber, which is based on a one-dimensional stacked array consisted of vertically cascaded two pairs of metal-dielectric bilayers. The results show that the absorption peaks are over 99% at the wavelength of 5.25 μm for different polarization angles, and remain very high within wide ranges of incident and azimuthal angles. We attribute those excellent performances to the excitation of the magnetic resonance (MR) and the guided mode resonance (GMR) for the TM and TE polarization, respectively, and are further expounded by the inductor-capacitor (LC) circuit model and the eigen equation of the GMR, respectively. More importantly, this one-dimensional absorber is very robust to the spacing distance between the neighboring stacks and the metallic strip thickness, which releases degrees of freedom in design and makes the absorber extremely flexible and simple in fabrication, thus it can be a good candidate for many fascinating applications.

Selective radiative heating of nanostructures using hyperbolic metamaterials

Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMM) are of great interest due to their ability to break the diffraction limit for imaging and enhance near-field radiative heat transfer. Here we demonstrate that an annular, transparent HMM enables selective heating of a sub-wavelength plasmonic nanowire by controlling the angular mode number of a plasmonic resonance. A nanowire emitter, surrounded by an HMM, appears dark to incoming radiation from an adjacent nanowire emitter unless the second emitter is surrounded by an identical lens such that the wavelength and angular mode of the plasmonic resonance match. Our result can find applications in radiative thermal management.

Parallel LC circuit model for multi-band absorption and preliminary design of radiative cooling

We perform a comprehensive analysis of multi-band absorption by exciting magnetic polaritons in the infrared region. According to the independent properties of the magnetic polaritons, we propose a parallel inductance and capacitance(PLC) circuit model to explain and predict the multi-band resonant absorption peaks, which is fully validated by using the multi-sized structure with identical dielectric spacing layer and the multilayer structure with the same strip width. More importantly, we present the application of the PLC circuit model to preliminarily design a radiative cooling structure realized by merging several close peaks together. This omnidirectional and polarization insensitive structure is a good candidate for radiative cooling application.

Tunable reflector with active magnetic metamaterials

We placed active magnetic metamaterials on metallic surface to implement a tunable reflector with excellent agile performance. By incorporating active elements into the unit cells of the magnetic metamaterial, this active magnetic metamaterial can be tuned to switch function of the reflector among a perfect absorber, a perfect reflector and a gain reflector. This brings about DC control lines to electrically tune the active magnetic metamaterial with positive loss, zero loss and even negative loss. The design, analytical and numerical simulation methods, and experimental results of the tunable reflector are presented.