Perfect dielectric-metamaterial reflector

Abstract

We exploit the Mie resonance in dielectric microparticles to design a single-negative metamaterial monolayer with near-unity reflectivity and negligible absorptivity. In contrast to Bragg reflectors and photonic band gap materials, which require multiple layers for high reflection, this metamaterial is both highly reflective and subwavelength in thickness. We identify the underlying physics necessary to design near-perfect all-dielectric reflectors at virtually any wavelength band of interest. Using full-wave, finite-element analysis and realistic optical constants for the constitutive materials, we develop a 0.45-$\ensuremath{\mu}$m-thick, silicon-based metamaterial monolayer with normal-incidence reflectivity over 99.999% and absorptivity less than 0.001% at a short-wave infrared wavelength of 1.5 $\ensuremath{\mu}$m.