Metamaterial metal-based bolometers

TL;DR

This paper introduces metamaterial metal-based bolometers that utilize resonant absorption for integrated spectral and polarization filtering, operating efficiently at room temperature with potential for compact spectrometers and polarization analysis.

Contribution

The authors develop and demonstrate gold-nanostructure bolometers with integrated filtering capabilities, advancing the design of compact, efficient, and broadband spectroscopic devices.

Findings

Operate around 1.5 μm wavelength with 134 μs time constants

Detect light levels of 1 nW within 1 Hz bandwidth at room temperature

Potential for integrated spectrometers and polarization analysis without external optics

Abstract

We demonstrate metamaterial metal-based bolometers, which take advantage of resonant absorption in that a spectral and/or polarization filter can be built into the bolometer. Our proof-of-principle gold-nanostructure-based devices operate around 1.5 \mum wavelength and exhibit room-temperature time constants of about 134 \mus. The ultimate detectivity is limited by Johnson noise, enabling room-temperature detection of 1 nW light levels within 1 Hz bandwidth. Graded bolometer arrays might allow for integrated spectrometers with several octaves bandwidth without the need for gratings or prisms and for integrated polarization analysis without external polarization optics.