Infrared Frequency-Tunable Coherent Thermal Sources

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a numerically modeled infrared thermal emitter made of graphene-covered SiC gratings, with tunable emission frequency via graphene chemical potential adjustments, promising new tunable infrared sources.

Contribution

It introduces a graphene-based tunable thermal emitter with a quantitative circuit model and broad frequency tunability, advancing infrared thermal source technology.

Findings

Resonance frequency can be dynamically tuned within SiC phonon band.

Achieved 8.5% tunability in emission peak frequency.

Broad frequency coverage from 820 to 890 1/cm.

Abstract

In this work, we numerically demonstrate an infrared frequency-tunable selective thermal emitter made of graphene covered SiC deep gratings. Full-wave simulation shows temporally-coherent emission peak associated with magnetic polariton, whose resonance frequency can be dynamically tuned within the phonon absorption band of SiC by varying graphene chemical potential. An analytical inductor-capacitor circuit model is introduced to quantitatively predict the resonance frequency and further elucidate the mechanism for the tunable emission peak. Moreover, by depositing multiple layers of graphene sheets onto the SiC deep gratings, a large tunability of 8.5% in peak frequency can be obtained to yield the coherent emission covering a broad frequency range from 820 1/cm to 890 1/cm. The novel tunable met-amaterial could pave the way to a new class of tunable thermal sources in the infrared region.