High-performance THz metamaterial absorber

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel ultra-broadband, polarization-insensitive THz metamaterial absorber with high efficiency and wide-angle performance, achieved through a multilayer truncated pyramid design that effectively combines multiple waveguide resonances.

Contribution

The authors introduce a new multilayer truncated pyramid metamaterial design that achieves ultra-broadband THz absorption with high efficiency and wide-angle insensitivity.

Findings

Achieves over 80% absorptivity from 0.7 to 2.3 THz

Full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 127%

Operates effectively up to 40 degrees incident angle

Abstract

We demonstrated an ultra-broadband, polarization-insensitive and wide-angle metamaterial absorber for terahertz (THz) frequencies using arrays of truncated pyramid unit structure made of metal-dielectric multilayer composite. In our design each sub-layer behaving as an effective waveguide is gradually modified in their lateral width to realize a wideband response by effectively stitching together the resonance bands of different waveguide modes. Experimentally, our five layer sample with a total thickness 21um is capable of producing a large absorptivity above 80% from 0.7 to 2.3 THz up to the maximum measurement angle 40{\deg}. The full absorption width at half maximum (FWHM) of our device is around 127%, greater than those previously reported for THz frequencies. Our absorber design has high practical feasibility and can be easily integrated with the semiconductor technology to make high efficient THz-oriented devices.