Design of a Far-Infrared Broadband Metamaterial Absorber with High Absorption and Ultra-Broadband

Abstract

We designed a metamaterial far-infrared absorber based on an MDM (metal–dielectric–metal) structure. We made a hollow crossed Ti microstructure at the top of the absorber. It is known that the coupling effect of equipartitional exciton resonance and intrinsic absorption at the surface of the depleting material has a strong influence on the absorber. Based on this, we investigated the absorption characteristics of the absorber using the Finite Difference in Time Domain (FDTD) theory. The results show that the absorber absorbed more than 90% of the light within a bandwidth of 12.01 μm. The absorber has an average absorption of 94.08% in the longwave infrared (LWIR) to ultra-longwave infrared (UWIR) bands (10.90–22.91 μm). The polarization insensitivity of the designed absorber is demonstrated by analyzing the absorption spectra of the absorber at different polarization angles. By adjusting the relevant geometric parameters, the absorption spectrum can be independently adjusted. Furthermore, the absorber exhibits good incidence angle insensitivity in both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes. The absorbers are simple and easy to configure for applications such as optical cloaking, infrared heat emitters, and photodetectors. These advantages will greatly benefit the application of absorbers in practice.