We numerically demonstrate a switchable metamaterial absorber/emitter by thermally turning on or off the excitation of magnetic resonance upon the phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO2). Perfect absorption peak exists around the wavelength of 5 lm when the excitation of magnetic resonance is supported with the insulating VO2 spacer layer. The wavelength-selective absorption is switched off when the magnetic resonance is disabled with metallic VO2 that shorts the top and bottom metallic structures. The resonance wavelength can be tuned with different geometry, and the switchable metamaterial exhibits diffuse behaviors at oblique angles. The results would facilitate the design of switchable metamaterials for active control in energy and sensing applications.

Recently, near-field thermal radiation has attracted much attention in several fields since it can exceed the Planck blackbody limit through the coupling of evanescent waves. In this work, near-field radiative heat transfer between two semi-infinite dual uniaxial electromagnetic metamaterials with two different material property sets is theoretically analyzed. The near-field radiative heat transfer is calculated using fluctuational electrodynamics incorporated with anisotropic wave optics. The underlying mechanisms, namely, magnetic hyperbolic mode, magnetic surface polariton, electrical hyperbolic mode, and electrical surface polariton, between two homogeneous dual uniaxial electromagnetic metamaterials are investigated by examining the transmission coefficient and the spectral heat flux. The effect of vacuum gap distance is also studied, which shows that the enhancement at smaller vacuum gap is mainly due to hyperbolic mode and surface plasmon polariton modes. In addition, the results show that the contribution of s-polarized waves is significant and should not be excluded due to the strong magnetic response regardless of vacuum gap distances. The fundamental understanding and insights obtained here will facilitate the finding and application of novel materials for near-field thermal radiation.

Cubic (space group: Fmm) iridium phosphide, Ir₂P, has been synthesized at high pressure and high temperature. Angle-dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements on Ir₂P powder using a diamond-anvil cell at room temperature and high pressures (up to 40.6 GPa) yielded a bulk modulus of B[subscript 0] = 306(6) GPa and its pressure derivative B₀′ = 6.4(5). Such a high bulk modulus attributed to the short and strongly covalent Ir-P bonds as revealed by first – principles calculations and three-dimensionally distributed [IrP₄] tetrahedron network. Indentation testing on a well–sintered polycrystalline sample yielded the hardness of 11.8(4) GPa. Relatively low shear modulus of ~64 GPa from theoretical calculations suggests a complicated overall bonding in Ir₂P with metallic, ionic, and covalent characteristics. In addition, a spin glass behavior is indicated by magnetic susceptibility measurements.

In this work, we report the design of a wavelength-tunable infrared metamaterial by tailoring magnetic resonance condition with the phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO₂). Numerical simulation based on the finite-difference time-domain method shows a broad absorption peak at the wavelength of 10.9 μm when VO₂ is a metal, but it shifts to 15.1 μm when VO₂ changes to dielectric phase below its phase transition temperature of 68 °C. The large tunability of 38.5% in the resonance wavelength stems from the different excitation conditions of magnetic resonance mediated by plasmon in metallic VO₂ but optical phonons in dielectric VO₂. The physical mechanism is elucidated with the aid of electromagnetic field distribution at the resonance wavelengths. A hybrid magnetic resonance mode due to the plasmon-phonon coupling is also discussed. The results here would be beneficial for active control of thermal radiation in novel electronic, optical, and thermal devices.

A film-coupled metamaterial structure is numerically investigated for enhancing the light absorption in an ultrathin photovoltaic layer of crystalline gallium arsenide (GaAs). The top subwavelength concave grating and the bottom metallic film could not only effectively trap light with the help of wave interference and magnetic resonance effects excited above the bandgap, but also practically serve as electrical contacts for photon-generated charge collection. The energy absorbed by the active layer is greatly enhanced with the help of the film-coupled metamaterial structure, resulting in significant improvement on the short-circuit current density by three times over a free-standing GaAs layer at the same thickness. The performance of the proposed light trapping structure is demonstrated to be little affected by the grating ridge width considering the geometric tolerance during fabrication. The optical absorption at oblique incidences also shows direction-insensitive behavior, which is highly desired for efficiently converting off-normal sunlight to electricity. The results would facilitate the development of next-generation ultrathin solar cells with lower cost and higher efficiency.

In this letter, we study the near-field radiative heat transfer between two metamaterial substrates coated with silicon carbide (SiC) thin films. It is known that metamaterials can enhance the near-field heat transfer over ordinary materials due to excitation of magnetic plasmons associated with s polarization, while strong surface phonon polariton exists for SiC. By careful tuning of the optical properties of metamaterial, it is possible to excite electrical and magnetic resonances for the metamaterial and surface phonon polaritons for SiC at different spectral regions, resulting in the enhanced heat transfer. The effect of the SiC film thickness at different vacuum gaps is investigated. Results obtained from this study will be beneficial for application of thin film coatings for energy harvesting.

In this work, we numerically demonstrate an infrared (IR) frequency-tunable selective thermal emitter made of graphene-covered silicon carbide (SiC) gratings. Rigorous coupled-wave analysis shows temporally-coherent emission peaks associated with magnetic polariton (MP), whose resonance frequency can be dynamically tuned within the phonon absorption band of SiC by varying graphene chemical potential. An analytical inductor–capacitor circuit model is introduced to quantitatively predict the resonance frequency and further elucidate the mechanism for the tunable emission peak. The effects of grating geometric parameters, such as grating height, groove width and grating period, on the selective emission peak are explored. The direction-independent behavior of MP and associated coherent emission are also demonstrated. Moreover, by depositing four layers of graphene sheets onto the SiC gratings, a large tunability of 8.5% in peak frequency can be obtained to yield the coherent emission covering a broad frequency range from 820 to 890 cm^-1. The novel tunable metamaterial could pave the way to a new class of tunable thermal sources in the IR region.

In this work, a selective solar absorber made of nanostructured titanium gratings deposited on an ultrathin MgF₂ spacer and a tungsten ground film is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Normal absorptance of the fabricated solar absorber is characterized to be higher than 0.9 in the UV, visible and, near infrared (IR) regime, while the mid-IR emittance is around 0.2. The high broadband absorption in the solar spectrum is realized by the excitation of surface plasmon and magnetic polariton resonances, while the low mid-IR emittance is due to the highly reflective nature of the metallic components. Further directional and polarized reflectance measurements show wide-angle and polarization-insensitive high absorption within solar spectrum. Temperature-dependent spectroscopic characterization indicates that the optical properties barely change at elevated temperatures up to 350 °C. The solar-to-heat conversion efficiency with the fabricated metamaterial solar absorber is predicted to be 78% at 100 °C without optical concentration or 80% at 400 °C with 25 suns. The performance could be further improved with better fabrication processes and geometric optimization during metamaterial design. The strong spectral selectivity, favorable diffuse-like behavior, and good thermal stability make the metamaterial selective absorber promising for significantly enhancing solar thermal energy harvesting in various systems at mid to high temperatures.

We investigate near-field radiative heat transfer between Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) nanowire arrays which behave as type 1 and 2 hyperbolic metamaterials. Using spatial dispersion dependent effective medium theory to model the dielectric function of the nanowires, the impact of filling fraction on the heat transfer is analyzed. Depending on the filling fraction, it is possible to achieve both types of hyperbolic modes. At 150 nm vacuum gap, the heat transfer between the nanowires with 0.5 filling fraction can be 11 times higher than that between two bulk ITOs. For vacuum gaps less than 150 nm the heat transfer increases as the filling fraction decreases. Results obtained from this study will facilitate applications of ITO nanowires as hyperbolic metamaterials for energy systems.