Wide-Oblique-Incident-Angle Stable Polarization-Insensitive Ultra-Wideband Metamaterial Perfect Absorber for Visible Optical Wavelength Applications

Broadband near unity absorption meta-structure for solar thermophotovoltaic systems and optical window applications

Developing a meta-structure with near-unity absorbance in the visible and infrared spectra for solar energy harvesting, photodetection, thermal imaging, photo-trapping, and optical communications is a long-term research challenge. This research presents a four-layered (insulator-metal-insulator-metal) meta-structure unit cell that showed a peak absorbance of 99.99% at 288-300 nm and the average absorbance of 99.18% over the 250-2000 nm wavelength range in TE and TM modes, respectively. The symmetric pattern of the resonator layer shows polarization insensitivity with an average absorption of 99.18% in both TE and TM modes. Furthermore, the proposed design shows a wide incident angle stability up to ≤60 degrees in both TE and TM modes. The proposed structure also exhibits negative index properties at 288-300 nm and 1000-2000 nm, respectively. The negative index properties of the proposed design generate an anti-parallel surface current flow in the ground and resonator layers, which induces magnetic and electric field resonance and increases absorption. The performance of the proposed design is further validated by the interference theory model and a zero value for the polarization conversion ratio (PCR). The electric field E, magnetic field H, and current distribution are analyzed to explain the absorption mechanism of the proposed meta-structure unit cell. It also exhibits the highest photo-thermal conversion efficiency of 99.11%, demonstrating the viability of the proposed design as a solar absorber. The proposed design promises potentially valuable applications such as solar energy harvesting, photodetection, thermal imaging, photo-trapping, and optical communications because of its decent performance.

Broadband Plasmonic Metamaterial Optical Absorber for the Visible to Near-Infrared Region

An oblique angle and polarization insensitive metamaterial absorber (MA) are highly desired for the visible and infrared optical applications like, wave energy harvesting, optical filters, and detecting thermal leaks and electrical defects. In this paper, a multi-layered MA consisting of two layers of tungsten resonators on a silicon dioxide substrate, coated with additional SiO₂ materials is investigated. The unit cell size of the MA is 0.5λ × 0.5λ × 0.8λ, at the lowest wavelength. The proposed MA offers an average absorption of 92% from 400 nm to 2400 nm with stable oblique incident angles up to 45°. The structure also achieves polarization insensitivity at the entire visible and near-infrared spectrum. Moreover, the MA is found highly compatible for solar absorber applications with high y A_AM1.5. The structure is also compatible for filter application in optical communication system by modifying the plasmonic nano structure. The modified structure can block the wavelengths of the visible band (450 nm to 800 nm) and transmit optical communication bands (800 to 1675 nm). These versatile absorption and filtering performance make the proposed design highly potential for solar energy harvesting, photodetection, thermal imaging, photo-trapping, and optical communications applications.

Triple-Band Square Split-Ring Resonator Metamaterial Absorber Design with High Effective Medium Ratio for 5G Sub-6 GHz Applications

This article proposes a square split-ring resonator (SSRR) metamaterial absorber (MMA) for sub-6 GHz application. The unit cell of the MMA was designed and fabricated on commercially available low-cost FR-4 substrate material with a dielectric constant o 4.3. The higher effective medium ratio (EMR) of the designed unit cell shows the compactness of the MMA. The dimension of the unit cell is 9.5 × 9.5 × 1.6 mm³, which consists of two split rings and two arms with outer SSRR. The proposed MMA operates at 2.5 GHz, 4.9 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands with a 90% absorption peak and shows a single negative metamaterial property. The E-field, H-field, and surface current are also explored in support of absorption analysis. Moreover, the equivalent circuit model of the proposed MMA is modelled and simulated to validate the resonance behavior of the MMA structure. Finally, the proposed MMA can be used for the specific frequency bands of 5G applications such as signal absorption, crowdsensing, SAR reduction, etc.

Ultra-Broadband Perfect Absorber based on Titanium Nanoarrays for Harvesting Solar Energy

Solar energy is a clean and renewable energy source and solves today's energy and climate emergency. Near-perfect broadband solar absorbers can offer necessary technical assistance to follow this route and develop an effective solar energy-harvesting system. In this work, the metamaterial perfect absorber operating in the ultraviolet to the near-infrared spectral range was designed, consisting of a periodically aligned titanium (Ti) nanoarray coupled to an optical cavity. Through numerical simulations, the average absorption efficiency of the optimal parameter absorber can reach up to 99.84% in the 200-3000 nm broadband range. We show that the Ti pyramid's localized surface plasmon resonances, the intrinsic loss of the Ti material, and the coupling of resonance modes between two neighboring pyramids are highly responsible for this broadband perfect absorption effect. Additionally, we demonstrate that the absorber exhibits some excellent features desirable for the practical absorption and harvesting of solar energy, such as precision tolerance, polarization independence, and large angular acceptance.

Ultrawideband Polarization-Independent Nanoarchitectonics: A Perfect Metamaterial Absorber for Visible and Infrared Optical Window Applications

This article presents numerical analysis of an ultrathin concentric hexagonal ring resonator (CHRR) metamaterial absorber (MMA) for ultrawideband visible and infrared optical window applications. The proposed MMA exhibits an absorption of above 90% from 380 to 2500 nm and an average absorbance of 96.64% at entire operational bandwidth with a compact unit cell size of 66 × 66 nm². The designed MMA shows maximum absorption of 99% at 618 nm. The absorption bandwidth of the MMA covers the entire visible and infrared optical windows. The nickel material has been used to design the top and bottom layer of MMA, where aluminium nitride (AlN) has been used as the substrate. The designed hexagonal MMA shows polarization-independent properties due to the symmetry of the design and a stable absorption label is also achieved for oblique incident angles up to 70 °C. The absorption property of hexagonal ring resonator MMA has been analyzed by design evaluation, parametric and various material investigations. The metamaterial property, surface current allocation, magnetic field and electric field have also been analyzed to explore the absorption properties. The proposed MMA has promising prospects in numerous applications like infrared detection, solar cells, gas detection sensors, imaging, etc.

Towards Perfect Ultra-Broadband Absorbers, Ultra-Narrow Waveguides, and Ultra-Small Cavities at Optical Frequencies

In this study, we design ultra-broadband optical absorbers, ultra-narrow optical waveguides, and ultra-small optical cavities comprising two-dimensional metallic photonic crystals that tolerate fabrication imperfections such as position and radius disorderings. The absorbers containing gold rods show an absorption amplitude of more than 90% under 54% position disordering at 200<λ<530 nm. The absorbers containing silver rods show an absorptance of more than 90% under 54% position disordering at 200<λ<400 nm. B-type straight waveguides that contain four rows of silver rods exposed to air reveal normalized transmittances of 75% and 76% under 32% position and 60% radius disorderings, respectively. B-type L-shaped waveguides containing four rows of silver rods show 76% and 90% normalized transmittances under 32% position and 40% radius disorderings, respectively. B-type cavities containing two rings of silver rods reveal 70% and 80% normalized quality factors under 32% position and 60% radius disorderings, respectively.

Quad-Band Polarization-Insensitive Square Split-Ring Resonator (SSRR) with an Inner Jerusalem Cross Metamaterial Absorber for Ku- and K-Band Sensing Applications

The development of metamaterial absorbers has become attractive for various fields of application, such as sensing, detectors, wireless communication, antenna design, emitters, spatial light modulators, etc. Multiband absorbers with polarization insensitivity have drawn significant attention in microwave absorption and sensing research. In this paper, we propose a quad-band polarization-insensitive metamaterial absorber (MMA) for Ku- and K-band applications. The proposed patch comprises two square split-ring resonators (SSRR), four microstrip lines, and an inner Jerusalem cross to generate four corresponding resonances at 12.62 GHz,14.12 GHz, 17.53 GHz, and 19.91 GHz with 97%, 99.51%, 99%, and 99.5% absorption, respectively. The complex values of permittivity, permeability, refractive index, and impedance of MMA were extracted and discussed. The absorption mechanism of the designed MMA was explored by impedance matching, equivalent circuit model, as well as magnetic field and electric field analysis. The overall patch has a rotational-symmetrical structure, which plays a crucial role in acquiring the polarization-insensitive property. The design also shows stable absorption for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes. Its near-unity absorption and excellent sensing performance make it a potential candidate for sensing applications.

MS, Almalki SHA, Islam MS. Polarization Independent Metamaterial Absorber with Anti-Reflection Coating Nanoarchitectonics for Visible and Infrared Window Applications

The visible and infrared wavelengths are the most frequently used electromagnetic (EM) waves in the frequency spectrum; able to penetrate the atmosphere and reach Earth’s surface. These wavelengths have attracted much attention in solar energy harvesting; thermography; and infrared imaging applications for the detection of electrical failures; faults; or thermal leakage hot spots and inspection of tapped live energized components. This paper presents a numerical analysis of a compact cubic cross-shaped four-layer metamaterial absorber (MA) structure by using a simple metal-dielectric-metal-dielectric configuration for wideband visible and infrared applications. The proposed MA achieved above 80% absorption in both visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum from 350 to 1250 nm wavelength with an overall unit cell size of 0.57λ × 0.57λ × 0.59λ. The SiO₂ based anti-reflection coating of sandwiched tungsten facilitates to achieve the wide high absorption bandwidth. The perceptible novelty of the proposed metamaterial is to achieve an average absorptivity of 95.3% for both visible and infrared wavelengths with a maximum absorptivity of 98% from 400 nm to 900 nm. Furthermore, the proposed structure provides polarization insensitivity with a higher oblique incidence angle tolerance up to 45°.