Omnidirectional, polarization-independent, ultra-broadband metamaterial perfect absorber using field-penetration and reflected-wave-cancellation

In this work, we present the result of nickel (Ni)-based metamaterial perfect absorbers (MPA) with ultra-broadband close-to-one absorbance. The experimental broadband characteristic is significantly improved over the past effort on metamaterial perfect absorbers. An in-depth physical picture and quantitative analysis is presented to reveal the physical origin of its ultrabroadband nature. The key constituent is the cancellation of the reflected wave using ultra-thin, moderate-extinction metallic films. The ultra-thin metal thickness can reduce the reflection as the optical field penetrates through the metallic films. This leads to minimal reflection at each ultra-thin metal layer, and light is penetrating into the Ni/SiO₂ stacking. More intuitively, when the layer thickness is much smaller than the photon wavelength, the layer is essentially invisible to the photons. This results in absorption in the metal thin-film through penetration while there is minimal reflection by the metal film. More importantly, the experimental evidence for omni-directionality and polarization-insensitivity are established for the proposed design. Detailed measurement is conducted. Due to the ultrathin metal layers and the satisfactory tolerance in dielectric thickness, the broadband absorption has minimal degradation at oblique incidence. Such a wide angle, polarization-insensitive, ultra-broadband MPA can be very promising in the future, and the optical physics using sub-skin-depth metal film can also facilitate miniaturized high-performance nano-photonic devices.