Absorption and scattering in perfect thermal radiation absorber-emitter metasurfaces

Abstract

Detailed spectral analysis of radiation absorption and scattering behaviors of metasurfaces was carried out via finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) photonic simulations. It revealed that, for typical metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanodisc metasurfaces, absorbance and scattering cross-sections exhibit a ratio of σ abs / σ sca = 1 at the absorption peak spectral position. This relationship was likewise found to limit the attainable photo-thermal conversion efficiency in experimental and application contexts. By increasing the absorption due to optical materials, such as Cr metal nano-films typically used as an adhesion layer, it is possible to control the total absorption efficiency η = σ abs / σ sca and to make it the dominant extinction mechanism. This guided the design of MIM metasurfaces tailored for near-perfect-absorption and emission of thermal radiation. We present the fabrication as well as the numerical and experimental spectral characterisation of such optical surfaces.