Broadband near-infrared TiO₂ dielectric metamaterial absorbers

Metamaterial absorbers (MAs) have drawn increasing attention due to their prospects in many fields such as sensing, thermal emission, solar energy harvesting, etc. However, it remains challenging to realize broadband MAs with a simple structure. Here, we propose a broadband, polarization-insensitive, and omnidirectional MA working in the near-infrared range with simple structure, which is composed of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) cylinder nano-antenna arrays on the top of a vanadium (V) film deposited on a silicon substrate. This device demonstrates broadband absorption spectra from 820 to 1440 nm with the absorption above 90%, with high absorption up to the incident angle of ∼50°. The broadband absorption of the designed MA is mainly attributed to the interaction both of dielectric cavity resonance and electric dipole resonance. The electric and magnetic field intensity distribution of the MA are analyzed to better understand its absorption mechanism. In addition, the effects of the geometrical parameters on absorption are discussed. The demonstrated MA is relatively easy to fabricate and can be realized with other proper materials to work in other wavelength bands. The design is useful for applications such as solar energy harvesting, sensing, and camouflage.