Hodjat Hajian

Ultra-broadband, wide angle absorber utilizing metal insulator multilayers stack with a multi-thickness metal surface texture

In this paper, we propose a facile route to fabricate a metal insulator multilayer stack to obtain ultra-broadband, wide angle behavior from the structure. The absorber, which covers near infrared (NIR) and visible (Vis) ranges, consists of a metal-insulator-metal-insulator (MIMI) multilayer where the middle metal layer has a variant thickness. It is found that this non-uniform thickness of the metal provides us with an absorption that is much broader compared to planar architecture. In the non-uniform case, each thickness is responsible for a specific wavelength range where the overall absorption is the superposition of these resonant responses and consequently a broad, perfect light absorption is attained. We first numerically examine the impact of different geometries on the overall light absorption property of the multilayer design. Afterward, we fabricate the designs and characterize them to experimentally verify our numerical findings. Characterizations show a good agreement with numerical results where the optimum absorption bandwidth for planar design is found to be 620 nm (380 nm–1000 nm) and it is significantly boosted to an amount of 1060 nm (350 nm–1410 nm) for multi-thickness case.

Enhanced transmission and beaming via a zero-index photonic crystal

Certain types of photonic crystals with Dirac cones at the Γ point of their band structure have a zero effective index of refraction at Dirac cone frequency. Here, by an appropriate design of the photonic structure, we obtain a strong coupling between modes around the Dirac cone frequency of an all-dielectric zero-index photonic crystal and the guided ones supported by a photonic crystal waveguide. Consequently, we experimentally demonstrate that the presence of the zero-index photonic crystal at the inner side of the photonic crystal waveguide leads to an enhancement in the transmission of some of the guided waves passing through this hybrid system. Moreover, those electromagnetic waves extracted from the structure with enhanced transmission exhibit high directional beaming due to the presence of the zero-index photonic crystal at the outer side of the photonic crystal waveguide.

Visible light nearly perfect absorber: an optimum unit cell arrangement for near absolute polarization insensitivity

In this work, we propose an optimum unit cell arrangement to obtain near absolute polarization insensitivity in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) based ultra-broadband perfect absorber. Our findings prove that upon utilizing this optimum arrangement, the response of the absorber is retained and unchanged over all arbitrary incidence light polarizations, regardless of the shape of the top metal patch. First, the impact of the geometry of the top nanopatch resonators on the absorption bandwidth of the overall structure is explored. Then, the response of the MIM design for different incidence polarizations and angles is scrutinized. Finally, the proposed design is fabricated and characterized.

Guided Plasmon Modes of a Graphene-Coated Kerr Slab

We study analytically propagating surface plasmon modes of a Kerr slab sandwiched between two graphene layers. We show that some of the modes that propagate forward at low field intensities start propagating with negative slope of dispersion and positive flux of energy (fast-light surface plasmons) when the field intensity becomes high. We also discover that our structure supports an additional branch of low-intensity fast-light guided modes. The possibility of dynamically switching between the forward and the fast-light plasmon modes by changing the intensity of the excitation light or the chemical potential of the graphene layers opens up wide opportunities for controlling light with light and electrical signals on the nanoscale.

Long-range Tamm surface plasmons supported by graphene-dielectric metamaterials

Considering the Ohmic losses of graphene in the calculations and by obtaining exact dispersion relations of the modes, we theoretically study propagation and localization characteristics of Tamm surface plasmons supported by terminated graphene metamaterials. The metamaterials are composed of alternating layers of graphene and dielectric with subwavelength periods. We also examine the Tamm modes within the framework of long-wavelength approximation. It is shown that, in case the Ohmic losses of the graphene layers are taken into account, surface plasmons are not supported in a long-wavelength region, in which the graphene-dielectric multilayer structure behaves as a hyperbolic metamaterial. We prove that, when the metamaterial is truncated with air, by choosing sufficiently thick but still subwavelength dielectric layers, i.e., d = 300 nm, these surface waves will have a moderate propagation (localization) length that is comparable with those of a single layer of graphene. On the other hand, in case a min...

Hybrid plasmon–phonon polariton bands in graphene–hexagonal boron nitride metamaterials [Invited]

We theoretically investigate mid-infrared electromagnetic wave propagation in multilayered graphene–hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) metamaterials. Hexagonal boron nitride is a natural hyperbolic material that supports highly dispersive phonon polariton modes in two Reststrahlen bands with different types of hyperbolicity. Due to the hybridization of surface plasmon polaritons of graphene and hyperbolic phonon polaritons of hBN, each isolated unit cell of the graphene–hBN metamaterial supports hybrid plasmon–phonon polaritons (HPPs). Through the investigation of band structure of the metamaterial we find that, due to the coupling between the HPPs supported by each unit cell, the graphene–hBN metamaterial can support HPP bands. The dispersion of these bands can be noticeably modified for different thicknesses of hBN layers, leading to the appearance of bands with considerably flat dispersions. Moreover, analysis of light transmission through the metamaterial reveals that this system is capable of supporting high-k propagating HPPs. This characteristic makes graphene–hBN metamaterials very promising candidates for the modification of the spontaneous emission of a quantum emitter, hyperlensing, negative refraction, and waveguiding.

Ultra-Broadband, Lithography-Free, and Large-Scale Compatible Perfect Absorbers: The Optimum Choice of Metal layers in Metal-Insulator Multilayer Stacks

We report ultra-broadband perfect absorbers for visible and near-infrared applications that are based on multilayers of metal-insulator (MI) stacks fabricated employing straightforward layer deposition techniques and are, therefore, lithography-free and large-scale compatible. We scrutinize the impact of different physical parameters of an MIMI absorber structure with analysis of each contributing metal layer. After obtaining the optimal design parameters (i.e. material selection and their thicknesses) with both simulation and numerical analysis (Transfer Matrix Method) methods, an experimental sample is fabricated and characterized. Our fabricated MIMI absorber consists of an optically thick tungsten (W) back reflector layer followed by 80 nm aluminum oxide (Al2O3), 10 nm titanium (Ti), and finally another 80 nm Al2O3. The experimental results demonstrate over 90 percent absorption between 400 nm and 1640 nm wavelengths that is optimized for ultra-broadband absorption in MIMI structures. Moreover, the impedance matching method with free-space is used to shed light on the metallic layer selection process.

Disordered Nanohole Patterns in Metal-Insulator Multilayer for Ultra-broadband Light Absorption: Atomic Layer Deposition for Lithography Free Highly repeatable Large Scale Multilayer Growth

In this paper, we demonstrate a facile, lithography free, and large scale compatible fabrication route to synthesize an ultra-broadband wide angle perfect absorber based on metal-insulator-metal-insulator (MIMI) stack design. We first conduct a simulation and theoretical modeling approach to study the impact of different geometries in overall stack absorption. Then, a Pt-Al2O3 multilayer is fabricated using a single atomic layer deposition (ALD) step that offers high repeatability and simplicity in the fabrication step. In the best case, we get an absorption bandwidth (BW) of 600 nm covering a range of 400 nm–1000 nm. A substantial improvement in the absorption BW is attained by incorporating a plasmonic design into the middle Pt layer. Our characterization results demonstrate that the best configuration can have absorption over 0.9 covering a wavelength span of 400 nm–1490 nm with a BW that is 1.8 times broader compared to that of planar design. On the other side, the proposed structure retains its absorption high at angles as wide as 70°. The results presented here can serve as a beacon for future performance enhanced multilayer designs where a simple fabrication step can boost the overall device response without changing its overall thickness and fabrication simplicity.

Tailoring far-infrared surface plasmon polaritons of a single-layer graphene using plasmon-phonon hybridization in graphene-LiF heterostructures

Being one-atom thick and tunable simultaneously, graphene plays the revolutionizing role in many areas. The focus of this paper is to investigate the modal characteristics of surface waves in structures with graphene in the far-infrared (far-IR) region. We discuss the effects exerted by substrate permittivity on propagation and localization characteristics of surface-plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) in single-layer graphene and theoretically investigate characteristics of the hybridized surface-phonon-plasmon-polaritons (SPPPs) in graphene/LiF/glass heterostructures. First, it is shown how high permittivity of substrate may improve characteristics of graphene SPPs. Next, the possibility of optimization for surface-phonon-polaritons (SPhPs) in waveguides based on LiF, a polar dielectric with a wide polaritonic gap (Reststrahlen band) and a wide range of permittivity variation, is demonstrated. Combining graphene and LiF in one heterostructure allows to keep the advantages of both, yielding tunable hybridized SPPPs which can be either forwardly or backwardly propagating. Owing to high permittivity of LiF below the gap, an almost 3.2-fold enhancement in the figure of merit (FoM), ratio of normalized propagation length to localization length of the modes, can be obtained for SPPPs at 5–9 THz, as compared with SPPs of graphene on conventional glass substrate. The enhancement is efficiently tunable by varying the chemical potential of graphene. SPPPs with characteristics which strongly differ inside and around the polaritonic gap are found.

Beaming and enhanced transmission through a subwavelength aperture via epsilon-near-zero media

We numerically validate and experimentally realize considerable funneling of electromagnetic energy through a subwavelength aperture that is covered with an epsilon-near-zero metamaterial (ENZ). The epsilon-near-zero metamaterial is composed of two layers of metasurfaces and operates at microwave frequencies. We demonstrate that the presence of the metamaterial at the inner and outer sides of the aperture not only lead to a significant enhancement in light transmission, but also cause a directional emission of light extracting from this hybrid system. In addition to these experimental results, we theoretically demonstrate the same concept in mid-IR region for a subwavelength gold aperture with indium tin oxide as an epsilon-near-zero material. Moreover, we found that using a dielectric spacer in-between the sunwavelength aperture and the ENZ medium, it is possible to red-shift the enhancement/directional frequency of the system.