Tunable dual-band and high-quality-factor perfect absorption based on VO2-assisted metasurfaces

Perfect absorbers with high quality factors (Q-factors) are of great practical significance for optical filtering and sensing. Moreover, tunable multiwavelength absorbers provide a multitude of possibilities for realizing multispectral light intensity manipulation and optical switches. In this study, we demonstrate the use of vanadium dioxide (VO2)-assisted metasurfaces for tunable dual-band and high-quality-factor perfect absorption in the mid-infrared region. In addition, we discuss the potential applications of these metasurfaces in reflective intensity manipulation and optical switching. The Q-factors of the dual-band perfect absorption in the proposed metasurfaces are greater than 1000, which can be attributed to the low radiative loss induced by the guided-mode resonances and low intrinsic loss from the constituent materials. By utilizing the insulator-metal transition in VO2, we further proved that a continuous tuning of the reflectance with a large modulation depth (31.8 dB) can be realized in the designed metasurface accompanied by a dual-channel switching effect. The proposed VO2-assisted metasurfaces have potential applications in dynamic and multifunctional optical devices, such as tunable multiband filters, mid-infrared biochemical sensors, optical switches, and optical modulators. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the use of vanadium dioxide (VO2)-assisted metasurfaces for tunable dual-band and high-quality-factor perfect absorption in the mid-infrared region. The potential applications of these metasurfaces in reflective intensity manipulation and optical switching are discussed, highlighting their suitability for dynamic and multifunctional optical devices.