Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Broandband Absorber
Broandband Absorber
Abstract— Infrared (IR) absorbers have been previously studied patterning the next Au screen. A registration process similar to
for use in narrow-band and multi-band applications. Here, we the one described in [5] could be used to align the FSS screens
investigate a broadband absorber structure comprised of during fabrication.
multiple, stacked frequency selective surface screens. A genetic
algorithm is successfully employed to optimize a structure with The multi-screen absorber operates by coupling with the
three Au screens to exhibit high absorptivity across the mid-IR incident wave at one or more resonances, enhancing the fields
range from 3 µm to 5 µm. in the structure. Energy from the incident wave is dissipated by
the loss in the metallic features. While the unit cell dimension
for the FSS screens can be on the order of a half-wavelength,
I. INTRODUCTION which is pushing the limit for effective medium metamaterials,
Periodic metallodielectric nanostructures have recently the general stacked FSS structure considered here can exhibit
been investigated by several groups for use as infrared effective electric or magnetic resonances with large, associated
absorbers [1,2]. One type of IR absorber utilizes metamaterials intrinsic absorption. For instance, Au patches in neighboring
that include an effective magnetic response, such as negative FSS screens can form parallel metallic plates, which give rise
index metamaterials. The intrinsic loss associated with their to magnetic resonances that have high absorption. The
effective properties can be exploited to achieve high absorption proposed structure has the potential for producing many
over the resonant band [1]. Another absorber design approach resonances that can merge together to form a broadband
is adapted from the RF and based on electromagnetic band-gap opaque surface. Furthermore, because all of the Au screens can
(EBG) metasurfaces. Such a device uses a lossy metallic screen be perforated, the structure response can also be optimized to
that is backed by a thin dielectric layer and a ground plane [3]. have transmission windows.
An EBG metasurface was introduced in [2] with dual-band
absorption in the mid-IR over a wide field of view. While these
previous infrared absorber demonstrations have focused on
narrow-band and multi-band absorption in the infrared, there is
also an interest in developing structures that exhibit wide-band
infrared absorption properties. Here, we investigate multi-
screen frequency selective surface (FSS) type structures that
have broadband absorption in the mid-IR over the 3 µm to 5
µm range. A powerful genetic algorithm (GA) [4] is employed Figure 1. Cross-section view of the geometry. Three Au
to synthesize the structure parameters in order to achieve a screens are separated by PC402 planarizable polymer and
large absorption bandwidth. supported by an optically thick glass wafer.
IV. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have shown that multi-screen FSS
structures can be used to achieve broadband absorption in the
mid-IR. A structure with three Au screens was optimized by
the GA to exhibit polarization-independent absorptivity over
(a) (b) (c)
the entire range from 3 μm to 5 μm. The techniques described
Figure 2. Optimized unit cell patterns for the (a) top, (b) here can be further explored to design absorbers with even
middle, and (c) bottom FSS screens. larger bandwidth in the mid-IR and near-IR regimes.
REFERENCES
[1] Y. Avitzour, Y. A. Urzhumov, and G. Shvets, “Wide-angle infrared
absorber based on a negative-index plasmonic metamaterial,” Phys. Rev.
B, vol. 79, pp. 045131/1-5, January 2009.
[2] J. H. Jiang, S. Yun, F. Toor, D. H. Werner, and T. S. Mayer, “Conformal
dual-band near-perfectly absorbing mid-infrared metamaterial coating,”
ACS Nano, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 4641-4647, April 2011.
[3] D. J. Kern and D. H. Werner, “Magnetic loading of EBG AMC ground
planes and ultrathin absorbers for improved bandwidth performance and
reduced size,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 48, no. 12, pp. 2468-
2471, December 2006.
[4] R. L. Haupt and D. H. Werner, Genetic Algorithms in Electromagnetics,
Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2007.
[5] N. Liu, H. Guo, L. Fu, S. Kaiser, H. Schweizer, and H. Giessen, “Three-
dimensional photonic metamaterials at optical frequencies,” Nat.
Materials, vol. 7, pp. 31-37, January 2008.
[6] T. F. Eibert, J. L. Volakis, D. R. Wilton, and D. R. Jackson, “Hybrid
FE/BI modeling of 3-D doubly periodic structures utilizing triangular
prismatic elements and an MPIE formulation accelerated by the Ewald
transformation,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 47, no. 5, pp. 843-
850, May 1999.
Figure 3. Mid-IR scattering amplitudes for the optimized [7] A. D. Rakić, A. B. Djurišić, J. M. Elazar, and M. L. Majewski, “Optical
absorber design show in Fig. 2. The absorptivity is greater properties of metallic films for vertical-cavity optoelectronic devices,”
Appl. Opt., vol. 37, no. 22, pp. 5271-5283, August 1998.
than -0.249 dB (94.4%) over the entire targeted band from 3
µm to 5 µm.