A spectrally selective gap surface-plasmon-based nanoantenna emitter compatible with multiple thermal infrared applications

Abstract

Wavelength-selective nanoantenna emitters have attracted considerable attention due to their widespread applications ranging from thermal radiation management to thermophotovoltaics. In this paper, we design a wavelength-selective nanoantenna emitter based on the excitation of gap-surface plasmon modes using a metal–insulator–metal configuration (silicon dioxide (SiO2) sandwiched between silver (Ag) layers) for satisfying multiple infrared applications. The proposed design, which is called design I, realizes triple narrowband perfect absorptions at the resonance wavelengths of 1524nm,2279nm, and 6000nm, which perfectly match the atmospheric absorption bands while maintaining relatively low emissivity in the atmospheric transparency windows of 3-5 µm and 8-12 µm. Later, the functionality of design I is extended, which is called design II, to include a broadband absorption at the near-infrared region to minimize the solar irradiation reflection from the nanoantenna emitter. Finally, single- and three-layer graphene are introduced to provide a real-time tuning of the infrared signature of the proposed nanoantenna emitter (design II). It is also demonstrated that the three-layer graphene structure can suppress an undesired absorption resonance wavelength related to the intrinsic vibrational modes (optical phonons) of the SiO2 layer by 53.19% compared to 25.53% for the single-layer one. The spectral analysis of design I is validated using both analytical and numerical approaches where the numerical simulation domain is extended for the analysis of design II. The thermal characteristic analyses of design I and design II (without/with graphene layers) reveal that infrared signatures of the blackbody radiation are significantly reduced for the whole wavelength spectrum at least by 96% and 91% within a wide temperature ranging from room temperature to 500K, respectively.