Implementing infrared metamaterial perfect absorbers using dispersive dielectric spacers

Abstract

A typical metamaterial perfect absorber (MPA) is comprised of a metamaterial layer, a dielectric spacer, and a ground plane. The conventional spacer material is usually a lossy dielectric with little-dispersion for the purpose of easing the design and optimization procedure of the MPA. In this paper, we present the design, fabrication, and characterization of metamaterial perfect absorbers with a highly dispersive spacer, which is compatible with functional microelectromechanical systems. The measured dispersive permittivity of a silicon nitride thin film is used in modeling the absorption response of MPAs with rigorous coupled wave analysis. Different designs of MPA structures are fabricated and characterized. Spectroscopy data shows two perfect absorption peaks in wavelengths ranging from 8 μm to 20 μm, which supports the theoretical calculation and numerical simulation. The dispersion of silicon nitride enables the shared resonant modes of the two peak wavelengths and decreases the wavelength shift led by variations in structural parameters. We demonstrate that the use of dispersive dielectric materials in MPAs potentiates various functional devices.