Abstract
In this work, we present the design of a polarization independent broadband absorber in the terahertz (THz) frequency range using a metasurface resonator. The absorber comprises of three layers, of which, the top layer is made of a vanadium dioxide (VO2) resonator with an electrical conductivity of σ = 200000 S/m; the bottom layer consists of a planar layer made of gold metal, and a dielectric layer is sandwiched between these two layers. The optimized absorber exhibits absorption greater than 90% from 2.54–5.54 THz. Thus, the corresponding bandwidth of the designed absorber is 3 THz. Further, the thermal tunable absorption and reflection spectra have been analyzed by varying the electrical conductivity of VO2. The impact of the various geometrical parameters on the absorption characteristics has also been assessed. The physics of generation of broadband absorption of the proposed device has been explored using field analysis. Finally, the absorption characteristics of the unit cell has been studied for various incident and polarization angles.
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C. Gandhi received his M.Sc. degree in Physics from Loyola College, India. He received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Vellore Institute of Technology, India. His main research interests include terahertz absorber and polarization converter using metamaterials.
P. Ramesh Babu has worked in the Department of Physics at Vellore Institute of Technology, India, for the last thirty years, of which, he has been a professor since 2009. He received his Ph.D. degree from University of Madras, India, in 2006. His doctoral thesis focussed on the generation of Bragg solitons in a photonic bandgap structure. His research interests include nonlinear fiber optics, photonic crystal fibers, Bose-Einstein condensation, metamaterials and plasmonic sensors. He has published more than 50 papers in high-profile journals that include IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Sensors, Optical Fiber Technology, Current Science, Journal of Modern Optics, Optical Engineering, etc. He is a life member of Indian Association of Physics Teachers, Indian Laser Association and Indian Society for Technical Education.
K. Senthilnathan is a professor at Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), India. He earned his M.Sc. and M.Phil. degrees in Physics from the University of Madras, India, and Ph.D. degree from Anna University, India. He carried out post-doctoral research at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, from Dec. 2005 to Aug. 2008. Then, he served as Assistant Professor in NIT Rourkela from Sep. 2008 to Jun. 2010. Later, he joined VIT in Jul. 2010 as Assistant Professor. His areas of research include optical fibers, fiber Bragg gratings, photonic crystal fibers, pulse compression, Bose-Einstein condensation and metamaterials. Besides, he has also been focusing on developing various types of fiber sensors including micro-structured fibers. These results have been disseminated in various prestigious international journals that include Journal of the Optical Society of America B, IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of Lightwave Technology, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE Sensors, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, etc. He has more than 100 Scopus indexed publications.
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Gandhi, C., Babu, P.R. & Senthilnathan, K. Ultra-thin polarization independent broadband terahertz metamaterial absorber. Front. Optoelectron. 14, 288–297 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-021-1223-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-021-1223-3