Broadband Absorbers for the Mid-IR
Based on Multi-Screen Frequency Selective Surfaces
Jeremy A. Bossard*, Zikri Bayraktar, and Douglas H. Werner
Department of Electrical Engineering
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802 USA
jab678@psu.edu and dhw@psu.edu
Abstract— Infrared (IR) absorbers have been previously studied
for use in narrow-band and multi-band applications. Here, we
investigate a broadband absorber structure comprised of
multiple, stacked frequency selective surface screens. A genetic
algorithm is successfully employed to optimize a structure with
three Au screens to exhibit high absorptivity across the mid-IR
range from 3 µm to 5 µm.
I. INTRODUCTION
Periodic metallodielectric nanostructures have recently
been investigated by several groups for use as infrared
absorbers [1,2]. One type of IR absorber utilizes metamaterials
that include an effective magnetic response, such as negative
index metamaterials. The intrinsic loss associated with their
effective properties can be exploited to achieve high absorption
over the resonant band [1]. Another absorber design approach
is adapted from the RF and based on electromagnetic band-gap
(EBG) metasurfaces. Such a device uses a lossy metallic screen
that is backed by a thin dielectric layer and a ground plane [3].
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
to synthesize the structure parameters in order to achieve a
large absorption bandwidth.
II. DESIGN APPROACH FOR BROADBAND ABSORBERS
The absorber structure considered here consists of multiple
Au FSS screens that are separated by dielectric layers and
supported by an optically thick glass wafer. Fig. 1 illustrates a
cross-sectional view of the proposed absorber structure with
three screens. The FSS screens are periodic in two dimensions
and are defined by a unit cell geometry. Each of the three
screens are permitted to have a different pattern, but they share
the same unit cell dimension. This structure can be fabricated
by alternately patterning an Au screen using thin-film
evaporation and e-beam lithography to define the features and
then depositing a PC402 planarizable photopolymer before
978-1-4673-0462-7/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
patterning the next Au screen. A registration process similar to
the one described in [5] could be used to align the FSS screens
during fabrication.
The multi-screen absorber operates by coupling with the
incident wave at one or more resonances, enhancing the fields
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,
which is pushing the limit for effective medium metamaterials,
the general stacked FSS structure considered here can exhibit
effective electric or magnetic resonances with large, associated
intrinsic absorption. For instance, Au patches in neighboring
FSS screens can form parallel metallic plates, which give rise
to magnetic resonances that have high absorption. The
proposed structure has the potential for producing many
resonances that can merge together to form a broadband
opaque surface. Furthermore, because all of the Au screens can
be perforated, the structure response can also be optimized to
have transmission windows.
Figure 1. Cross-section view of the geometry. Three Au
screens are separated by PC402 planarizable polymer and
supported by an optically thick glass wafer.
In order to synthesize the absorber structure, we employ a
robust genetic algorithm (GA) optimizer that is linked to a full-
wave periodic finite element-boundary integral (PFEBI) [6]
electromagnetic solver. The GA evolves candidate designs over
multiple generations using a fitness or cost evaluation to
determine the performance of candidate designs [4]. In order to
optimize the absorber structure considered in this paper, the
screen geometries are pixelized into an NxN grid, in which
each pixel is a binary digit representing air “0” or metal “1”.
Eight-fold symmetry is enforced on each unit cell so that the
response at normal incidence will be polarization independent.
Fabrication rules are also enforced on the structure geometry,
eliminating diagonal connections in each screen, which allows
for a more accurate reproduction of the designed pattern. The
bits from one triangular fold of each screen, the unit cell
dimension, and the thicknesses for all screens and dielectric
layers are encoded in the chromosome to be optimized by the
GA. Material properties for Au based on experimental
measurements [7] are incorporated into the fitness evaluation,
and the permittivity values for PC402 and the glass half-space
below the structure are 2.403 and 2.25, respectively [5]. The
Cost function employed is given by
Cost = ∑ (1.0 − A) ,
2
(1)
λi
where A is the absorption magnitude at each specified
wavelength λi.
(a) (b) (c)
Figure 2. Optimized unit cell patterns for the (a) top, (b)
middle, and (c) bottom FSS screens.
Figure 3. Mid-IR scattering amplitudes for the optimized
absorber design show in Fig. 2. The absorptivity is greater
than -0.249 dB (94.4%) over the entire targeted band from 3
µm to 5 µm.
III. DESIGN RESULT
The GA was employed to optimize a broadband absorber
with three Au FSS screens targeting nine absorption
wavelengths specified over the range from 3 µm to 5 µm. A
population of 36 members was optimized over 600 generations
to evolve the resulting geometry shown in Fig. 2. The unit cell
dimension (period) for the optimized geometry is 1.718 µm,
and the top, middle, and bottom Au screens have thicknesses of
10 nm, 11 nm, and 12 nm, respectively. The optimized PC402
layer thicknesses are d1 = 401 nm and d2 = 445 nm. The
predicted scattering coefficients for the optimized design are
shown in Fig. 3 for normal incidence. The absorption is very
high over the entire 3 µm to 5 µm band, with a worst case
absorptivity of -0.249 dB (94.4%) and the reflection and
transmission suppressed to less than -13.9 dB. The multiple
dips in the reflection and transmission coefficients indicate that
several resonances are working in tandem to produce the wide-
band absorptivity.
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
the entire range from 3 μm to 5 μm. The techniques described
here can be further explored to design absorbers with even
larger bandwidth in the mid-IR and near-IR regimes.
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