One-way absorption of terahertz waves in rod-type and multilayer structures containing polar dielectrics

One-way absorption can be obtained at terahertz frequencies in low-profile rod-type and multilayer dielectric structures with broken spatial inversion symmetry, which contain either a rod layer or an ultrathin homogeneous layer made of a polar dielectric. Perfect absorption for one of the two opposite incidence directions and perfect reflection for the other one are observed at the edge of the polaritonic gap in a wide range of the incident angle variation, when the thickness of the entire structure is of the order of the incident wavelength. Moreover, this regime appears in a wide frequency range, in which the forward-to-backward absorption contrast is strong. The exploited mechanism is connected with the parameter adjustment that enables the location of the polaritonic gap of the polar dielectric, of which the lossy part of the structure is made, inside the stop band arising due to the periodicity of the lossless part of the structure that is made of a nondispersive dielectric. It also exploits absorption enhancement in the lossy part by backing it with the highly reflecting lossless part, which has alternating stop and pass bands. © 2014 American Physical Society.