Taming the Blackbody with Infrared Metamaterials as Selective Thermal Emitters

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Abstract

In this Letter we demonstrate, for the first time, selective thermal emitters based on metamaterial perfect absorbers. We experimentally realize a narrow band midinfrared (MIR) thermal emitter. Multiple metamaterial sublattices further permit construction of a dual-band MIR emitter. By performing both emissivity and absorptivity measurements, we find that emissivity and absorptivity agree very well as predicted by Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation. Our results directly demonstrate the great flexibility of metamaterials for tailoring blackbody emission.

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Composite Medium with Simultaneously Negative Permeability and Permittivity

D Smith, Willie J. Padilla, D Vier … (2000)

We demonstrate a composite medium, based on a periodic array of interspaced conducting nonmagnetic split ring resonators and continuous wires, that exhibits a frequency region in the microwave regime with simultaneously negative values of effective permeability &mgr;(eff)(omega) and permittivity varepsilon(eff)(omega). This structure forms a "left-handed" medium, for which it has been predicted that such phenomena as the Doppler effect, Cherenkov radiation, and even Snell's law are inverted. It is now possible through microwave experiments to test for these effects using this new metamaterial.

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Metamaterials and negative refractive index.

D Smith, J. Pendry, M. Wiltshire (2004)

Recently, artificially constructed metamaterials have become of considerable interest, because these materials can exhibit electromagnetic characteristics unlike those of any conventional materials. Artificial magnetism and negative refractive index are two specific types of behavior that have been demonstrated over the past few years, illustrating the new physics and new applications possible when we expand our view as to what constitutes a material. In this review, we describe recent advances in metamaterials research and discuss the potential that these materials may hold for realizing new and seemingly exotic electromagnetic phenomena.

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Active terahertz metamaterial devices.

Hou-Tong Chen, Willie J. Padilla, Joshua M O Zide … (2006)

The development of artificially structured electromagnetic materials, termed metamaterials, has led to the realization of phenomena that cannot be obtained with natural materials. This is especially important for the technologically relevant terahertz (1 THz = 10(12) Hz) frequency regime; many materials inherently do not respond to THz radiation, and the tools that are necessary to construct devices operating within this range-sources, lenses, switches, modulators and detectors-largely do not exist. Considerable efforts are underway to fill this 'THz gap' in view of the useful potential applications of THz radiation. Moderate progress has been made in THz generation and detection; THz quantum cascade lasers are a recent example. However, techniques to control and manipulate THz waves are lagging behind. Here we demonstrate an active metamaterial device capable of efficient real-time control and manipulation of THz radiation. The device consists of an array of gold electric resonator elements (the metamaterial) fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. The metamaterial array and substrate together effectively form a Schottky diode, which enables modulation of THz transmission by 50 per cent, an order of magnitude improvement over existing devices.