Near-ideal Absorption High Oblique Incident Angle Stable Metamaterial structure for visible to infrared Optical Spectrum Applications

Abstract

Abstract The Metamaterial Absorber (MA) has emerged as a game-changing tool for various applications such as photodetectors, plasmonic sensors, energy harvesting, imaging, solar cells, optical modulators, and more. The proposed MA comprises a metal-dielectric-metal structure (Ni-SiO2-Ni) to achieve over 90% absorption bandwidth from 360 nm to 1750 nm. The average absorption at the operational wavelength is 94.47%, and a peak absorption of 99% appears at 900 nm. The designed MA shows polarization insensitivity and oblique incident angle stability up to 60˚. Parametric design analysis, electric field, magnetic field, surface current distribution, and temperature distributions have been investigated to comprehend the absorption characteristics of the MA. The Polarization Conversion Ratio (PCR) result shows the proposed MA as a perfect absorber rather than a polarization converter. The effect of concave and convex bending has also been investigated up to 16˚, validating the stable absorption behavior. Finally, the designed MA can be a potential candidate for visible and optical window applications such as solar energy harvesting, photodetectors, light trapping, etc.