Optically transparent terahertz triple-band and dual-band metamaterial absorber

Abstract

Purpose

The proposed metamaterial absorber (MMA) has the following advantages: first, the structure of the MMA consists of one planar metallic resonator, which presents a new design approach to obtain a multiband absorption response, rather than using multiple unit-cells in the one large unit cell or stacking different layers. Second, the simultaneous realization of triple-band and dual-band absorption (or bi-functional absorption) at five different frequencies can integrate the respective advantages of the triple functions of the triple-band MMA and double-band MMA, and therefore, the bi-functional MMA will find more application prospects than multiple-functional devices of triple-band and dual-band. Third, the authors simulated the three combinations of MMA here, which is indium tin oxide (ITO)-Polyimide-ITO, ITO-Teflon-ITO and ITO-polyethylene terephthalate (PET)-ITO for the same planar structure and achieve a high absorption rate. Finally, the proposed structure is polarization and angle independent in nature.

Design/methodology/approach

This absorption device consists of the top circular resonator, the middle insulating SiO₂ medium layer and the bottom metallic copper ground plane placed on a substrate. The conductivity of the copper metal is s = 5.8 × 10⁷ s/m. As the transmission of the MMA structure is zero, the substrate materials can be selected randomly. Totally four combinations of terahertz MMA are designed and simulated here which are ITO- SiO₂ –ITO, ITO-Polyimide-ITO, ITO-Teflon-ITO and ITO- PET-ITO for the same planar structure.

Findings

Compared with previous MMAs, the proposed MMA has the following advantages: First, the structure of the MMA consists of one planar metallic resonator, which presents a new design approach to obtain a multiband absorption response, rather than using multiple unit-cells in the one large unit cell or stacking different layers. Second, the simultaneous realization of triple-band and dual-band absorption (or bi-functional absorption) at five different frequencies can integrate the respective advantages of the triple functions of the triple-band MMA and double-band MMA, and therefore, the bi-functional MMA will find more application prospects than multiple-functional devices of triple-band and dual-band. Third, the authors simulated the three combinations of MMA here, which is ITO-polyimide-ITO, ITO-Teflon-ITO and ITO- PET-ITO for the same planar structure and achieve a high absorption rate. Finally, the proposed structure is polarization and angle independent in nature.

Originality/value

First, the structure of the MMA consists of one planar metallic resonator, which presents a new design approach to obtain a multiband absorption response, rather than using multiple unit-cells in the one large unit cell or stacking different layers. Second, the simultaneous realization of triple-band and dual-band absorption (or bi-functional absorption) at five different frequencies can integrate the respective advantages of the triple functions of the triple-band MMA and double-band MMA, and therefore, the bi-functional MMA will find more application prospects than multiple-functional devices of triple-band and dual-band. Third, the authors simulated the three combinations of MMA here, which is ITO-polyimide-ITO, ITO-Teflon-ITO and ITO-PET-ITO for the same planar structure and achieve a high absorption rate. Finally, the proposed structure is polarization and angle independent in nature.

Citation

A., E., Sankararajan, R. and B.S., S. (2022), "Optically transparent terahertz triple-band and dual-band metamaterial absorber", Circuit World, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 126-131. https://doi.org/10.1108/CW-05-2020-0083