Ogawa Shinpei, Kimata Masafumi
Advanced Technology R&D Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Amagasaki 661-8661, Japan.
College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu 525-8577, Japan.
Materials (Basel). 2017 May 4;10(5):493. doi: 10.3390/ma10050493.
Wavelength- or polarization-selective thermal infrared (IR) detectors are promising for various novel applications such as fire detection, gas analysis, multi-color imaging, multi-channel detectors, recognition of artificial objects in a natural environment, and facial recognition. However, these functions require additional filters or polarizers, which leads to high cost and technical difficulties related to integration of many different pixels in an array format. Plasmonic metamaterial absorbers (PMAs) can impart wavelength or polarization selectivity to conventional thermal IR detectors simply by controlling the surface geometry of the absorbers to produce surface plasmon resonances at designed wavelengths or polarizations. This enables integration of many different pixels in an array format without any filters or polarizers. We review our recent advances in wavelength- and polarization-selective thermal IR sensors using PMAs for multi-color or polarimetric imaging. The absorption mechanism defined by the surface structures is discussed for three types of PMAs-periodic crystals, metal-insulator-metal and mushroom-type PMAs-to demonstrate appropriate applications. Our wavelength- or polarization-selective uncooled IR sensors using various PMAs and multi-color image sensors are then described. Finally, high-performance mushroom-type PMAs are investigated. These advanced functional thermal IR detectors with wavelength or polarization selectivity will provide great benefits for a wide range of applications.
波长或偏振选择性热红外（IR）探测器在各种新颖应用中具有广阔前景，如火灾探测、气体分析、多色成像、多通道探测器、自然环境中人造物体的识别以及面部识别等。然而，这些功能需要额外的滤光片或偏振器，这导致成本高昂且在以阵列形式集成许多不同像素时存在技术难题。等离子体超材料吸收器（PMA）只需通过控制吸收器的表面几何形状，使其在设计波长或偏振下产生表面等离子体共振，就能赋予传统热红外探测器波长或偏振选择性。这使得无需任何滤光片或偏振器就能以阵列形式集成许多不同像素。我们回顾了近期在使用PMA进行多色或偏振成像的波长和偏振选择性热红外传感器方面取得的进展。针对三种类型的PMA——周期性晶体、金属 - 绝缘体 - 金属和蘑菇型PMA——讨论了由表面结构定义的吸收机制，以展示其合适应用场景。接着描述了我们使用各种PMA的波长或偏振选择性非制冷红外传感器以及多色图像传感器。最后，对高性能蘑菇型PMA进行了研究。这些具有波长或偏振选择性的先进功能热红外探测器将为广泛的应用带来巨大益处。
