A metamaterial frequency-selective super-absorber that has absorbing cross section significantly bigger than the geometric cross section

TL;DR

This paper introduces a metamaterial super-absorber that significantly exceeds its geometric cross section at a specific frequency, utilizing transformation optics and double negative metamaterials to amplify absorption.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel frequency-selective super-absorber design using transformation optics and double negative metamaterials, achieving arbitrarily large absorption cross sections for a fixed volume.

Findings

Analytical Mie theory confirms the super-absorber's effectiveness.

Finite element simulations support the theoretical predictions.

The device's absorption cross section can be made arbitrarily large at a specific frequency.

Abstract

Using the idea of transformation optics, we propose a metamaterial device that serves as a frequency-selective super-absorber, which consists of an absorbing core material coated with a shell of isotropic double negative metamaterial. For a fixed volume, the absorption cross section of the super-absorber can be made arbitrarily large at one frequency. The double negative shell serves to amplify the evanescent tail of the high order incident cylindrical waves, which induces strong scattering and absorption. Our conclusion is supported by both analytical Mie theory and numerical finite element simulation. Interesting applications of such a device are discussed.