Plasmonic Metasurface for Directional and Frequency-Selective Thermal Emission

Abstract

Incandescent sources typically emit broadband light in all directions. Most of this radiation is lost for applications in the infrared region, such as spectroscopy or compositional analysis. Here the authors control both the spatial and temporal coherence of blackbody radiation with a plasmonic metasurface that emits a narrow band of frequencies in a small solid angle. This system operates reliably at 600 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C using CMOS-compatible materials, inviting the development of compact, efficient, and cheap infrared sources and gas detectors.