Adjustable Trifunctional Mid-Infrared Metamaterial Absorber Based on Phase Transition Material VO.

In this paper, we demonstrate an adjustable trifunctional absorber that can achieve the conversion of broadband, narrowband and superimposed absorption based on the phase transition material vanadium dioxide (VO) in the mid-infrared domain. The absorber can achieve the switching of multiple absorption modes by modulating the temperature to regulate the conductivity of VO. When the VO film is adjusted to the metallic state, the absorber serves as a bidirectional perfect absorber with switching capability of wideband and narrowband absorption. The superposed absorptance can be generated while the VO layer is converted to the insulating state. Then, we introduced the impedance matching principle to explain the inner mechanism of the absorber. Our designed metamaterial system with a phase transition material is promising for sensing, radiation thermometer and switching devices.