Polarization controllable multispectral symmetry-breaking absorberin mid-infrared

Abstract

The versatility of mid-infrared metamaterial absorbers along with the ease of fabrication has been widely used in thermal imaging, molecule sensing, and many other applications. Controllable multispectral absorption is highly required for small footprint, multi-purpose, and real-time sensing applications. In this paper, we present the polarization control of interchangeable multispectral absorption based on the dual-band metamaterial absorber in split mode. Large modulation depth of absorption is obtained during multi-band transition through polarization control. We perform theoretical and numerical analysis to explain the results by formulating an equivalent circuit for the asymmetric cross resonator. Thermal controllability is also demonstrated to show the reversible and repeatable manipulation of absorption intensity at a given wavelength. Moreover, we characterized the limitation of this device under extreme high temperature. This work offers a design methodology for interchangeable multispectral metamaterial absorber from a new perspective by adopting polarization of incident light as a control mechanism, and this will open up possibilities for many valuable applications in the future.