Hindawi

Journal of Nanomaterials
Volume 2017, Article ID 2361042, 18 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/2361042

Review Article
Metasurfaces-Based Absorption and Reflection Control:
Perfect Absorbers and Reflectors

Trevon Badloe,1 Jungho Mun,2 and Junsuk Rho1,2

1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea

Correspondence should be addressed to Junsuk Rho; [email protected]

Received 8 July 2017; Revised 22 September 2017; Accepted 1 October 2017; Published 6 November 2017

Academic Editor: Jingshi Meng

Copyright © 2017 Trevon Badloe et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

In the past decade, the realisation of negative index materials has initiated extensive research into metamaterials. Perfect absorbers
and reflectors are of particular interest as their usefulness is endless in a range of different fields and devices. Since it was originally
shown that a device can achieve unity absorption of electromagnetic waves, it has become a hot area of research to develop perfect
absorbers based on polarisation independence and incident angle independence, at a range of frequencies from microwave to
optical ones. The amazing performance, flexibility, and tunability of these metamaterials will be discussed here, by presenting the
different designs and working mechanisms that have been realised up to now. Their limitations and shortcomings will be addressed
and future plans for perfect absorbers and reflectors will be suggested.

1. Introduction bonus of being fully under control of the designer in terms

of the materials they are made of and the size and structure
The control of lights amplitude, phase, and polarisation states of the atoms. They work by resonant coupling to electric,
through optical devices is a key tool in the modern world magnetic, or both components of the incident lights magnetic
for many real-life applications such as sensing [1], imaging field to result in effective responses that cannot be found
[2], and communications. Current optical devices manip- in nature [2–9]. As we develop our knowledge about and
ulate light via interactions due to their refractive indices skill of fabricating metamaterial devices, we open the door
and other controllable characteristics. Refraction, reflection, to new and exciting applications and the possibility of optical
absorption, and diffraction are mechanisms by which light responses that could not have been realised before, such as
can be controlled and modified to achieve whatever outcome electromagnetic invisibility [10].
we want, to focus light into a specific area that is a lens In this review paper, we will concentrate on two specific
or to absorb the light and harvest its energy that is a solar uses of metamaterials. Firstly, as perfect absorbers and sec-
cell [3]. These days as technology advances and devices are ondly as perfect reflectors, the structures and mechanisms for
getting smaller and smaller, the demand for optical devices unity or zero absorption, respectively, and their development
to become smaller and more efficient continues to rise as over the last few years will be discussed. One of the main
consumer based optical products need to be lightweight and obstacles in metal based metamaterial development is that as
portable. frequencies reach the resonant frequency, surface plasmons
Metamaterials are a state-of-the-art technology that is are excited and saturate the magnetic response, rendering
usually composed of periodic subwavelength metal and metal based metamaterials useless at higher frequencies.
dielectric structures. These are usually formed into a type of Ohmic losses are also a stumbling block as metals are lossy
meta-atoms that act in the same way as conventional atoms and heat up during use. Novel and ingenious methods of
do with regard to optical manipulation, but with the added overcoming these problems will be discussed here.
2 Journal of Nanomaterials

2. Perfect Absorbers To overcome the angle sensitivity of local surface exci-

tations, Teperik et al. [3] produced an effect that relies on
Perfect absorbers have been a hot topic in metamaterials the excitation of localised plasmons by using a subwave-
for lots of years. The first realisation of a perfect absorber length hole array. They described how, by using localised
was published over 30 years ago [11] and ongoing research is plasmon excitation, they can successfully achieve the desired
developing, improving, and finding new and innovative ways omnidirectional absorption effect needed for the applications
to demonstrate and fabricate perfect absorbers. previously mentioned. Additionally, by focusing on localised
The simplest model for a perfect absorber would be plasmon excitations, the absorption effect from the sub-
a homogeneous absorbing medium in contact with air. wavelength hole array is also polarisation independent. The
The absorbing medium should have both absorption, the localised plasmons couple to the external light and decay into
imaginary part of refractive index, and wave impedance the metal, producing the required effect; this will be described
of unity to match the impedance of air. If there is an below.
impedance mismatch, there will always be reflection which A nanoporous metal surface was fabricated by electro-
is obviously undesirable for a perfect absorber. The wave chemical deposition of gold over a monolayer of latex spheres
impedance depends on the ratio between electric permittivity supported on a gold substrate. Later the latex spheres are
𝜀(𝜔) and magnetic permeability 𝜇(𝜔). Most materials have a removed to leave empty spherical voids inside a thickness of
permittivity larger than unity, so we need materials with an gold. Details about this procedure can be found in [18].
equivalent larger than unity permeability too. Under the conditions that diffraction and polarisation
In short, for a perfect absorber with unity absorption 𝐴 conversion are suppressed, an optically thick sample that
we need to simultaneously minimise the transmission 𝑇 and exhibits a surface resonance can become a perfect absorber if
reflectivity 𝑅; that is, 𝐴 = 1 − 𝑅 − 𝑇. Transmission is easily it is designed so that the radiative decay rate of the resonance
minimised by utilising a metallic back plate. The reflectivity of is equal to the dissipation rate. If these requirements are met,
an incident electromagnetic wave normal to a metamaterial the reflectivity at a frequency 𝜔 becomes
absorber is given by
2
(𝜔 − 𝜔0 )
󵄨󵄨 𝑍 (𝜔) − 𝑍 (𝜔) 󵄨󵄨2 𝑅= , (2)
󵄨 󵄨󵄨 2
𝑅 = 󵄨󵄨󵄨 0
󵄨 , (1) (𝜔 − 𝜔0 ) + Γ2 /4
󵄨󵄨 𝑍 (𝜔) + 𝑍0 (𝜔) 󵄨󵄨󵄨
where Γ and 𝜔0 are the resonance width and frequency,
where 𝑍(𝜔) = √𝜇(𝜔)𝜇0 /𝜀(𝜔)𝜀0 is the impedance of the respectively. Since the goal is zero reflectivity, it is evident
metamaterial absorber and 𝑍0 = √𝜇0 /𝜀0 is the impedance of that this equation will be zero and therefore reflectivity will
free space. For reflectivity to be zero, the impedance match be zero at a frequency equal to the resonant frequency, that
condition, 𝑍(𝜔) = 𝑍0 (𝜔), must be met. Therefore, the is, when 𝜔 = 𝜔0 [3].
condition 𝜇(𝜔) = 𝜀(𝜔) must be satisfied. Since there are A sketch and scanning electron microscope image of the
no natural magnetic materials in the optical regime, that fabricated surface is show in Figure 1. As the fabrication is
is to say, 𝜇 = 1 for all materials, a metamaterial with a not perfect, the top of the aperture is not completely closed,
nonunity permeability is required. Metamaterials allow us to so some red shift is observed due to the leaking of the void
tune the electric permittivity 𝜀(𝜔) and magnetic permeability plasmons. This redshift is paired with a smaller radiative
𝜇(𝜔) simultaneously and can be designed to allow us to decay rate, so at a specific thickness the rate equipartition
reach perfect absorption at a certain frequency by impedance condition is fulfilled again and the absorption becomes close
matching with free space. to 100%.
Original designs relied on simple gratings [11–17] for their Without the existence of surface plasmons the absorption
working mechanism. These gratings induced first-order and effect described here extends to incident angles of over 60∘
second-order air gap mode resonances which interact with for any azimuthal angle as seen in Figure 2. For angles of
the incident light to perfectly absorb it. The main drawback more than 40∘ surface plasmons in the flat metal interface
of these original designs was the lack of tunability [15], have an obvious effect and as a result produce a nonperfect
polarisation dependence [3], and narrow bandwidth [7], and absorption. This problem was overcome by filling the voids
they were extremely dependent on the angle of the incident with a dielectric medium as to modify the void plasmons
light [3–7, 11–17]. Many new devices and mechanisms have energy into a region where there is no interaction with
been proposed, presented, and improved on since then; we delocalised surface plasmons.
will discuss them here.
2.2. Flat Nanostructured Surface. One of the most popular
2.1. Subwavelength Hole Array. A huge drawback of using and well researched methods of producing a perfect absorber
gratings as a tool for absorption is their reliance on delo- is by using a nanostructured surface. Several groups including
calised surface excitations [3]. These local surface excitations Landy et al. [19, 20] proposed metal-dielectric composite
are extremely sensitive to the angle of incidence [3, 16]; metamaterial absorbers that are thin and polarisation inde-
therefore this kind of grating structure cannot be utilised pendent and have a wide angle of absorption. Efforts have
in practical applications such as microscale lighting and been to improve these designs so that they also include
photovoltaic cells, where a broader range of angles are omnidirectionality [1, 19–23]; that is, have a wide angle of
required. absorption for any azimuthal angle.
Journal of Nanomaterials 3

t = 0.88D

t D

500 nm

Figure 1: Sketch and scanning electron microscope image of the mesoporous gold surfaces used, consisting of a layer of close packed voids
of diameter 𝐷 = 500 nm covers with gold to a thickness 𝑡 [3].

Absorption Absorption
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

1.3 1.3

1.2 1.2
Photon energy (eV)

Photon energy (eV)

1.1 1.1

1.0 1.0

0.9 0.9

0 20 40 60 80 0 10 20 30
Angle of incidence (∘ ) Azimuthal angle (∘ )
(a) (b)

Figure 2: (a) Calculated incidence-angle dependence of absorption by a layer of 500 nm close packed silica filled inclusions buried in gold.
(b) Under the same conditions as (a), there is azimuthal dependence of absorption for 20∘ off-normal incidence [3].

Creating an absorber consisting of a polymer separation excited an electric dipole resonance. This resonance in turn is
layer between a metallic film and a cut wire array it is coupled to its own image which oscillates on the metallic film
possible to achieve up to 99.9% absorption [21] when the in antiphase. Due to this a magnetic polariton is formed and
dimensions are properly designed. In the cut wire design induces a magnetic response, causing a dip in the spectrum
three dimensions are adjustable, the thickness of the polymer [24–26]. This electric dipole resonance strength is mainly
layer, the width of the cut wire, and the length of the cut wire. dependent on the separation between the cut wire and the
The thickness of the metallic film is chosen to ensure that the metal film, that is, the thickness of the polymer [25]. It is
transmission of light is zero; therefore reflection is the only possible to find an optimal thickness whereby the magnetic
mechanism for absorption. and electric responses are impedance matched to the free
To understand the mechanism behind the absorption space and the reflection is reduced to less than 0.1% at
simulations were done to analyse where the resonances resonant frequency.
occurred. In Figure 3 it can be seen that charges with opposite By considering a circuit driven by the magnetic polariton
signs accumulated at opposite ends of the cut wire; this resonance, it can be deduced that the resonant frequency is
4 Journal of Nanomaterials

×106 (V/m) ×106 (V/m)

16.8 2.7

6.3 2.4

4.0 1.6

1.7 6.7
0 0

−2.9 −1.1

−5.1 −2.0
x x
−7.4 −2.7
Ez y Ez y
−16.8
(a) (b)

Figure 3: ((a) and (b)) Distribution of the 𝑧 component electric field for resonance on the cut wire and metallic film, respectively [21].

independent of the thickness of the polymer [27] and can be is much smaller than previously reported methods [3] using
given by metal-dielectric interfaces.
1 1
𝑓𝑚 = ∼ , (3) 2.3. Two-Dimensional Nanostructure. Rather than cut wire
2𝜋√𝐿𝐶/2 𝑙
or cross shaped surfaces, perfect absorbers made from two-
where 𝐿 is the inductance, 𝐶 is the capacitance, and 𝑙 is the dimensional disk arrays have also been thoroughly studied
length of the cut wire. From this we can clearly see that the [32, 33]. In this type of device, the structure is extremely
resonant frequency is solely dependent on the length of the similar to the previous example of nanostructured surfaces,
cut wire. a dielectric spacer sandwiched between a metal mirror and a
By replacing cut wires with crosses, omnidirectional structured top layer. With the main difference here being the
absorption can be achieved for both TE and TM polarisation. top layer, rather than flat cut wire or cross shapes, an array of
Polarisation independence can be easily understood since two-dimensional metallic nanorods are fabricated on top of
any incoming plane wave can be decomposed into two the dielectric layer as seen in Figure 6.
components with magnetic field components in the 𝑥-𝑧 or In a study by Liu et al. [32] a gold disk array is structured
𝑦-𝑧 plane; hence each component can excite the equivalent on top of an MgF2 dielectric spacer and a gold mirror. Again,
magnetic polariton. However, for TE polarisation at an angle the gold mirror acts to eliminate all transmittance across the
of incidence above 60∘ , the 𝑦 component of the incident near infrared frequency regime. For a perfect absorber, 𝐴 =
magnetic field rapidly tends to zero; consequently it is unable 1 − 𝑇 − 𝑅. Since the transmission is zero due to the mirror, 𝑇
to excite the magnetic polariton efficiently and the absorption is zero. Therefore, to achieve a perfect absorber, 𝑅 has to be
rate becomes low. A schematic of these designs can be seen in minimised.
Figure 4. Current distributions were studied to find the mechanism
Another goal for perfect absorbers is to increase the for the absorption in the device, and unsurprisingly it is due
working bandwidth of absorption. This can be done by laying to the same mechanism as the cut wire and cross shaped
the structures on top of each other as shown in Figure 5 nanosurfaces [3, 21], that is, due to antiparallel currents
using layer-by-layer fabrication techniques [28–31]. Since the because of being excited in the metallic layers, inducing a
resonant frequency is only dependent on the length of the magnetic moment inside the dielectric layer that can strongly
cross, it is possible to tune the lengths to be slightly different interact with the magnetic field of the incident light [32].
in different layers and ensure that the resonant frequencies At resonance, the localised electromagnetic field between
of the inducted magnetic polaritons are close to each other. the layers is enhanced greatly [26, 32, 34, 35] and therefore
The stacked structures each excite their respective magnetic electromagnetic energy can be confined inside the dielectric
polaritons and since the resonant peaks are closely positioned spacer, minimising the reflectance. Using this method, a
there becomes a hybridisation of the magnetic polaritons. As perfect absorber was realised with almost zero reflectance
a result, the bandwidth is effectively enhanced. In [21], a stack (𝑅 = 0.28%) [33].
of 3 structures was investigated and a 1.03 THz frequency An advantage of using an array of 2D cylindrical
band with more than 97% absorption was achieved. Finally, nanorods on the top surface is that it is compatible with all
the thickness of the whole structure was less than 𝜆/25 which current nanofabrication techniques such as electron beam
Journal of Nanomaterials 5

H, y
E, x p p
k, z

l t
w

(a) (b)

H, y p
E, x p
k, z

l
t
w

(c) (d)

Figure 4: Schematic diagrams of the THz absorbers consisting of a metallic film, a polymer separation layer, and (a) a cut wire array and (c)
a cross array. (b) and (d) are unit cells of the two absorbers [21].

E, x
H, y
w
k, z
w
l3 t3 Third layer
3rd cross
w
w t2 Second layer
l2
2nd cross w
w t1 First layer
l1
1st cross
p

Figure 5: Schematic diagram of a 3-layer cross structure with the geometrical parameters of each layer marked [21].

lithography [36], interference lithography [37], nanosphere 2.4.1. “Bottle-Like” Narrowband Absorber. As illustrated in
lithography [38], and focused ion beam writing [39]. This Figure 7, the bottle-like absorber is made up of an array of
could easy lead to the possible manufacture of ultrasensitive SiO2 strips embedded in gold with small air gaps at the top
plasmonic detectors. of the strips. Gapped nanoparticles have been proved to be
able to concentrate light and therefore as the gap resonance
2.4. Microcavity. Microcavities have been devised in all the electric field inside the gap can be enhanced greatly. The
kinds of shapes, ranging from simple gratings and rods to origin of the absorption and the location of the resonance
more intricate designs [40, 41]. They have been shown to enhanced field are in the gap.
be polarisation dependent, polarisation independent, and The width and height of the dielectric strips can be tuned
narrowband and broadband depending on the dimensions as desired to produce the desired spectra. It was shown that
and design. Here a few select designs will be discussed and over all range of widths and heights the spectra always remain
compared for simplicity. over 97% absorption. This is only true to TM polarised light
6 Journal of Nanomaterials

polarised electromagnetic wave with wavelengths ranging

from 700 nm to 2300 nm, red to infrared light.

2.5. Periodic Resonator. Periodic resonators consist of an

electric-field-couple-LC resonator and a metallic backplate
that are separated by a thin dielectric layer. These ultrathin
devices can be arranged in a periodic manner to create perfect
absorbers over a range of working frequencies [42–47]. The
electric-field-couple-LC resonators are scaled and arranged
in a way so as to regulate the effective capacitance and
inductance of the overall structure to realise the maximum
possible resonance.
Figure 6: Schematic diagram of the two-dimensional structured A schematic of the device can be seen in Figure 10. The
perfect absorber [32]. top layer of electric-field-couple-LC resonators is responsible
for the electric resonance which couples with the metallic
back plate to create a magnetic field that drives the current
in the resonator. The centred capacitor and inductors only
only, as shown in Figure 8; for TE polarised light almost all the contribute when the incident electric field is perpendicular
light is reflected (<2% absorption). This microcavity absorber to the capacitor. By structuring two sizes of these single
is also extremely angle independent, as long as the incident resonators into an alternating pattern a dual band perfect
electric field is parallel to the 𝑥𝑧 plane. At angles up to 65∘ the absorber is produced. The electric and magnetic resonances
absorption resides at over 80%. are activated individually which confines the electromagnetic
Electric intensity enhancement was investigated to find power into the cell of the resonator [43].
the mechanism for the absorption. It can be seen that absorp- The resonance between two cells is very weak and the
tion is at its maximum when the electric field intensity is at absorption is independent among each element, so it is safe
its maximum. The dimensions of the dielectric correspond to to assume that making arrays of different scale resonators
different resonant wavelengths to maximise the electric field will produce peaks due to each size independently. Thus, a
enhancement in the air gap. triple band resonator consisting of 3 scales was fabricated and
Although this design has lots of benefits, such as high investigated [44]. As expected three distinct absorption peaks
performance, fine tenability, and strong polarisation depen- were observed in the GHz frequency, all of more than 93%
dence, it is fairly difficult to fabricate. Therefore, in practice absorption in frequency bands over wide angles of incident
more simple structures are required to allow straightforward waves for both TE and TM polarisation.
fabrication and later scalable manufacture. Another design of a triple band absorber is shown in
Figure 11. This design [44] has fourfold symmetry and the
same mechanisms are at work as in the previous study [43].
2.4.2. “Cup-Like” Narrowband Absorber. The design of the The copper resonator is responsible for the electric field
cup-like narrowband absorber can be seen in Figure 9. It is response and the coupling between the top and bottom
made up of nanoscale grooves covered in a layer of dielectric. layers create the antiparallel surface current that excites
The width and the depth of the grooves can be tuned, as can the magnetic response as shown in Figure 12. Due to the
the thickness of the dielectric layer and the period of the symmetry, the response to both TE and TM polarisation is
grooves. almost identical, and the absorption is also strong at most
The mechanism of the absorption can provide an almost incident angles.
perfect absorber at resonant wavelength. This is due to
the destructive interference between light reflected from 2.6. Nanostructured Metal-Dielectric-Metal Stack. In general,
the top surface and the surface inside the grooves. The reducing metallic losses [48–50] is one of the most sought
resonant frequencies are found to be adjustable by varying the after goals in nanophotonics, so designing perfect absorbers
thickness of the dielectric layer; meanwhile as the thickness that are based on only lossless dielectric materials and noble
of the dielectric layer or the depth of the grooves increases, metals is a highly active area of research. Here we will discuss
the absorption peaks are redshifted. a few designs and mechanisms for creating a perfect absorber
Again, this type of absorber is highly polarisation sen- from lossless materials.
sitive at no normal incidences as in the previous case. In At lower frequencies such as infrared, noble metals
this case, TM polarised light has absorption of over 85% like copper, silver, and gold are great reflectors but display
for an incident angle of up to 50∘ and the absorption effec- unwanted plasmon resonances at visible frequencies [5]. By
tively disappears under TE polarised light. For both of the creating a subwavelength noble metal structured surface,
aforementioned microcavity perfect absorbers it is possible to localised and delocalised surface plasmon resonances can
change the refractive index of the dielectric material to cause be utilised to realise high absorption on usually reflective
a red shift in the absorption spectra without changing the surfaces.
overall absorption. It is reported that using these two types An absorber consisting of a thin (260 nm) three-layer
of perfect absorber that it is possible to perfectly absorb any metal-insulator-metal film was fabricated [5]. Only the top
Journal of Nanomaterials 7

s p
z
y a
x
b

(a) (b)

Figure 7: (a) Schematic of the bottle-like absorber: the yellow region is gold and blue regions are the dielectric. (b) Cross section of a unit
cell, the width, and depth of the air gap as represented by 𝑎 and 𝑏, respectively [42].

35 4 35 4

3 3

0 0

2 2
Z (nm)
Z (nm)

−35 −35 1
1

0 0
−70 −70

−1 −1
−60 −30 0 30 60 −60 −30 0 30 60
X (nm) X (nm)
(a) (b)

Figure 8: Comparison between the electric intensity enhancement under (a) TM polarised light and (b) TE polarised light [42].

s p

z a
y

x
d H

(a) (b)

Figure 9: (a) Schematic diagram of the cup-like perfect absorber: the yellow region is gold and the blue regions are dielectric. (b) Cross
section of a unit cell [42].
8 Journal of Nanomaterials

7 8 9

4 5 6

2 3
1

(a) (b)

Figure 10: (a) Schematic of the periodic resonator. (b) The fabricated structure [44].

t1

L1 t2

a L2

⇀ L3
y, E

⇀
x, H
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 11: Schematic structure of the triple band microwave absorber (a) from the front and (b) the side [43].

layer was patterned. Two patterns were investigated, a metal visible light. By calculating the electric response, it was shown
strip array and a trapezoid array as can be seen in Figure 13. that different parts of the trapezoidal wire were responsible
The pattern was repeated over the 𝑥-axis to give a periodic for exciting of different resonances at different frequencies.
pattern. Again, the localised surface plasmon resonances
could be identified from the absorption in the spectra, and
2.6.1. Ultrathin Metal Layer. To continue the development of
as always they produce narrowband resonances which are
layered perfect absorbers, a method based on one ultrathin
dependent on the width of the pattern. As the patterns width
layer of chromium between two silica layers was devised
was increased, the resonances were red shifted. When the
electric field of the incident light is parallel to the wire arrays, [3, 51]. The thin metal layer is no longer a noble metal and
that is under TE polarisation, the wire arrays act as effective no longer requires any structuring. By using the impedance
plasma media. But this resonant behaviour is much weaker transformation method [52], chromium was chosen as the
in the case of TM polarisation, showing strong polarisation refractory metal as it most closely matches the ideal permit-
dependence. tivity in the visible and near infrared range [53–55]. The whole
To remove the polarisation dependence of the periodic assembly is placed on a gold substrate which acts only as a
wire pattern, from intuition we can assume that a symmet- mirror to give zero transmission. A schematic of the absorber
rical shape could be useful. By arranging the trapezoidal can be seen in Figure 14. Absorption of over 90% over the
wires into an array of crosses this feat was accomplished [5]. wavelength range of 0.4–1.4 𝜇m was shown, with angle and
Trapezoidal shaped cross arrays were able to produce a broad polarisation independence.
absorption spectrum of over 70% that ranged from 400 to By investigating the electric field distribution under
700 nm. This is extremely significant as it is in the range of normal incidence shown in Figure 15, it was shown that
Journal of Nanomaterials 9

(V/m) (V/m) (V/m)

4 4
5 ∗ 10 5 ∗ 10 5 ∗ 104

0 0 0

−5 ∗ 104 −5 ∗ 104 −5 ∗ 104

(a) (b) (c)

(A/m) (A/m) (A/m)
800 800 800

0 0 0

(d) (e) (f)

(A/m) (A/m) (A/m)
800 800 800

0 0 0

(g) (h) (i)

Figure 12: Distribution of normal electric fields and (d)–(i) surface current distributions for the three peaks of absorption. (d)–(f) Surface
current distributions on the top rings; (g)–(i) surface current distributions on the ground plane [43].

the Cr layer did not reflect any light, and from the time- In [61] rather than creating a waveguide or grating into a
averaged power flow it is obvious to see that all of the light is dielectric top layer, the grating was constructed directly onto
trapped and absorbed by the thin Cr layer, not in the dielectric the silver surface. This resulted in a simple absorber with a
layers. Since refractory metals such as Cr have extraordinary subnanometer bandwidth. The resonant wavelength of this
resistance to heat and high melting points compared to noble absorber is very easily tuneable via geometrical scaling and
metals such as gold and silver [56], this kind of absorber could is also ultrasensitive to the refractive index and the dielectric
have utility in applications such as high temperature thermal substrate. A schematic of the design is shown in Figure 16.
emitters in the visible and near infrared range [57, 58], solar The temporal coupled-mode theory [58–62] is used to
energy harvesting [3], and thermal imaging [2]. provide light on the mechanism of the absorption. Under
illumination of the resonant wavelength, surface plasmon
2.6.2. Additional Grating. Although gratings were one of polaritons will be excited. This energy will dissipate into the
the first methods of creating a perfect absorber [59], it still metal as resistive heat while the remaining part is radiated
has valid interest to this day. It can be used to enhance into the free space. These damping rates can be varied by
certain structures by introducing features and useful tuneable altering the size of the grating. Finally, the resistive damping
parameters. Dielectric gratings and waveguides have been rate can be obtained from
previously studied [60] whereby the surface plasmon polari-
tons form a surface wave between the dielectric and metal due
to the oscillation of free electrons at the interface. 𝛾res = 𝛾tot − 𝛾rad , (4)
10 Journal of Nanomaterials

300 nm
w

x
３Ｃ／ Ag
z 2
Ag ℎ！Ａ = 100 nm
ℎ３Ｃ／2 = 60 nm
ℎ！Ａ = 100 nm
(b)
(a)
40 nm

m
0n
30
1 20 n
y m

300 n
m

x
z
(c) (d)

Figure 13: Schematic diagram of the three-layer system with (a) metal strip and (b) trapezoidal grating. (c) Electron microscope images of
the fabricated devices. (d) Unit cell of the trapezoid grating [5].

onto the top metal layer, they proposed a multilayered metal-

Dielectric d dielectric-metal structure, with the top layer being structured
Metal m into a grating.
dd
dm Dielectric d To understand the absorption mechanism, again the
dd
Au substrate ！Ｏ electric field intensity distribution at the resonant wavelength
was studied and is shown in Figure 17. Below the slits there are
z large electric field intensity enhancements and concentration
y inside the dielectric spacer. This can be attributed to the
x
guided mode resonance. As the dimensions of the grating
Figure 14: Schematic diagram of the broadband perfect absorber change, the location of the resonant wavelengths also changes
consisting of a single thin layer of metal between two dielectric layers in order to satisfy the phase matching condition, but for all
on a gold substrate [51]. wavelengths the absorption peak is still quite high (more than
90%) for angles of incidence up to 34∘ , and this shift does not
go outside of the width of the absorption peak.
where 𝛾tot is the total damping rate and 𝛾res , 𝛾rad are the resis- To enhance this single band perfect absorber [65], it was
tive damping rate and radiative damping rates, respectively. modified to become a multiband absorber by simply stacking
The absorbance at angular frequency 𝜔 is given by [63] more layers of metal and dielectric of different thicknesses
4𝛾rad 𝛾res on top of the existing structure, Figure 18. From the electric
𝐴= 2
. (5) field intensity distribution, it can be seen that the power
(𝜔 − 𝜔0 ) + 𝛾2 tot loss is greater for a certain resonant frequency in a certain
Peak absorbance is at 4𝛾rad 𝛾res /𝛾2 tot at 𝜔 − 𝜔0 . Critical layer, with standing wave profiles in the 𝑥 direction. This
coupling occurs when 𝛾rad = 𝛾res and leads to unity absorp- standing wave profile is a typical feature of guided mode, so
tion, a perfect absorber as desired. the enhancement of the absorption can be attributed to the
Absorption of 100% was observed at a variety of wave- guided mode resonance, with each mode being reliant on the
lengths, which can be tuned by changing the geometrical scal- size of the different dialectic spacer.
ing factor. Interestingly the absorber has strong resonances The above structures work for TE polarised waves but can
as different angles for different wavelengths of light. At all easily be adapted to accept TM polarisation and be polari-
wavelengths, the FWHM is very small, around 0.6 nm, which sation independent through methods described in previous
would be ideal for practical use as a plasmonic sensor. work by the same team, here [65].
Meanwhile, Wu et al. [64] worked on a similar structure In summary, dielectric nanostructures have both electric
for infrared frequencies, but rather than structuring directly and magnetic resonances coming from Mie-like resonances
Journal of Nanomaterials 11

1
1

３Ｃ／2
Cr
３Ｃ／2
Air

→
W&P
0
0 (b)
1
３Ｃ／2
Cr
３Ｃ／2 ３Ｃ／2
Cr
３Ｃ／2

Au
→
Ex & P Q
−1 0
(a) (c)

Figure 15: (a) The calculated electric field distribution and time-average power flow 𝑃, (b) time-averaged energy density distribution and
power flow, and (c) heat generation density distribution under normal incidence at the wavelength of 500 nm [51].

without complex nanostructures. These simultaneous electric these all metal structures utilise the excitation of local
and magnetic resonances are responsible for unidirectional surface plasmon resonances instead. These allow the indi-
scattering, which we can relate to high efficiency reflection, vidual nanostructures that exhibit different colours to be in
transmission, and absorption. We can then add various close proximity and exhibit angle independent nondiffractive
nanostructures to the metal top layer to control the absorp- colours. Narrow near perfect absorption peaks, above 95%,
tion direction and polarisation as we desire. were observed at fairly large incident angles as the localised
surface plasmon resonances produce subtractive colours with
2.7. All Metal Subtractive Reflector. Although most of the high saturation.
devices presented here use a mixture of metal-dielectric mul- The mechanism for this all metal absorber was explored
tilayers so as to reduce the effects of the ohmic losses in metals by looking at the field, charge, and power distributions at res-
[48–50], this costs extra time and money during fabrication onant frequency. In Figure 20 it is clear to see that the electric
[66–69]. So more recently all metal perfect absorbers [70] field is concentrated at the top and bottom of the edge of
have been investigated.
the structure, while the magnetic field is concentrated above
Previous studies have shown how all metal surface
the top surface and to the side walls. The electromagnetic
absorbers have been achieved within nanotrenches of varying
power is absorbed at the circumference at the top surface
depths and broadband absorption within ultrasharp convex
grooves [71, 72], but more recently Ng et al. [70] presented and partially at the base. This power absorption is the reason
an all metal structure with individual nanostructures of equal for the absorption of the incident light as we can see that
height. This design has the added advantage of being easy no power is reflected; therefore it is completely absorbed by
and simple to fabricate via scalable patterning and etching the structure at the resonant wavelength. Possible uses for
processes or even direct printing onto metal substrates [73]. this kind of device are as a colourant for plastic consumer
A schematic of the structure is shown in Figure 19. Three products [74], in high resolution colour printing [75], and in
silver nanostructures were considered, a circle, square, and polarisation sensitive colour printing [76].
cross, respectively, on a bulk silver layer. By using these three Green colour continues to be a difficult problem, as it is
shapes, absorption peaks across the whole visible spectrum difficult to produce peaks at green wavelengths using this type
are tuneable by modifying the width and shape of the metal of perfect absorber. Black, that is absorption of all colours, is
protrusion. also still yet to be found using the methods reported here, but
Rather than relying on surface plasmon polaritons that other methods such as randomly roughened and vertically
occur at the interface between a metal and dielectric layer, tapered metal surfaces have achieved this feat [72, 77].
12 Journal of Nanomaterials

z y
TM
x
TE

h r s

Silver
Substrate a
(a) (b)

Figure 16: (a) Schematic of the 1D grating; the grey region is silver and the blue region is the substrate. (b) Cross section of a unit cell [61].

0 below 50% quickly, and certain metals, albeit having high

6
reflectance in the required region, will react with the local
5
environment and will become quickly damaged.
100 In the case of metamaterials, one of the key problems
4
of metallic based devices is due to ohmic dampening which
z-axis (nm)

results in unwanted absorption [48–50]. Moreover, as high

200 3 frequencies approach the resonant plasmon frequency the
excitation of the electrons in the metal saturate the magnetic
2 response, limiting their use at these high frequency ranges.
300 Perfect reflectors are also useful in protecting surfaces against
1 high power radiation such as in laser cavities and although
other methods can be used, perfect reflection from a single
400 layer of metamaterial could offer many advantages such as
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 simplifying the fabrication process and being able to produce
x-axis (nm) a fast and effective paint-like coating that could be used for
Figure 17: Electric field destruction of the perfect absorber [64].
large area optics.
It can be shown that, to achieve unity reflectance, the real
part of the impedance of the medium must be zero [78]. This
condition is achieved when 𝜀󸀠 /𝜇󸀠 < 0 and 𝜀󸀠󸀠 /𝜇󸀠 = 𝜀󸀠 /𝜇󸀠󸀠 ,
3. Perfect Reflectors where the complex permittivity and permittivity are given
The most common way to create a mirror is a thin layer by 𝜀󸀠 + 𝑖𝜀󸀠󸀠 and 𝜇󸀠 + 𝑖𝜇󸀠󸀠 , respectively. The first part required
of metal. Since metals are already almost perfect reflectors, that the real parts of the permittivity and permeability have
usually with reflection over 90%, they are used in most opposite signs, which is easily found close to an electric
applications from astronomical telescopes to dental mirrors. or magnetic resonance, provided that the resonances are
The reflectance of a mirror can be calculated from the spectrally isolated. The second condition is more difficult to
refractive index, 𝑛, and the extinction coefficient, 𝑘, using the achieve but is satisfied in lossless materials. The imaginary
relationship part of the refractive index must also be maximised to prevent
evanescent tunnelling across the device.
(𝑛 − 1)2 + 𝑘2
𝑅 (%) = × 100%. (6) 3.1. Metal Antenna Array. Realisation of metasurfaces with
(𝑛 + 1)2 + 𝑘2
broadband optical response and high efficiency at visible
The values of 𝑛 and 𝑘 are readily available for every metal wavelengths is a challenging task as usual designs of opti-
over a wide range of wavelength regions. From this we can cal resonator elements, or meta-atoms, only offer limited
see that certain metals are only useful at certain wavelength efficiency due to ohmic losses in the metallic structures
ranges as their reflectance becomes too low at others; for the and diffraction modes inside the discrete meta-atoms [79–
example of UV light in astronomical telescopes, silver is an 81]. Simple plasmonic nanostructures have mostly electric
unacceptable choice whereas aluminium is a great choice. The dipole modes, which radiate omnidirectionally. This limits
main problems with using metal films as reflectors are that in the efficiency of device which uses simple plasmonic nanos-
optical systems with many mirrors reflectance will degrade tructures. For this reason, the metal on metallic substrate
Journal of Nanomaterials 13

TE 1
R
d  80

fd 70 0.8

Angle of incidence (∘ )
Au ℎ1 60
Si ℎ2 0.6
50
Au ℎ3

Si ℎ4 40
0.4
30

20 0.2
Au
10

0 0
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400
Wavelength (nm)
(a) (b)

Figure 18: (a) Schematic of the triband perfect absorber consisting of three layers or metal and dielectric grating structure. (b) Absorbance
as a function of wavelength and the angle of incidence [64].

(a)
t=0 t = T/4
E H

+ − + −
+ − + −

−− ++ −− J ++

(b)

Figure 19: (a) Schematic diagrams of all-metallic silver structures with nanoprotrusions emerging from a bulk layer of silver for three
geometries (circle, square, and cross). (b) Electric and magnetic fields at different time instances for the localised surface plasmon resonance
mode [70].

and dielectric nanostructure schemes had been used for high several discrete sized elements in the unit cell [83, 84], this
efficiency metasurfaces. The schemes rely not only on electric design is basically an array of trapezoid shaped Ag nanorods
resonances but also on simultaneously magnetic resonances, coupled with an optically thick Ag film separated by a SiO2
which make the most desirable unidirectional scattering spacer [5, 85]. This kind of single atom unit cell makes
possible. fabrication much easier with high geometric accuracy [86].
In [82] Li et al. suggested a simple design to realise a The design is shown in Figure 21.
broadband perfect reflector across the visible frequency range As with perfect absorbers, the absorptivity 𝐴 is reduced
by using a single gradient meta-atom design. Rather than to 𝐴 = 1 − 𝑅 − 𝑇, where 𝑅 and 𝑇 are the reflectivity and
14 Journal of Nanomaterials

E-field intensity H-field intensity Absorbed power density

×10−2 ×10−10
150 150 150
1.3
Near perfect absorption

100 90 100 8
100
0.9
z (nm)

50 50 50
50
4
0.5
0 0 0
10
−50 −50 0.1
−50 0
−120 −60 0 60 120 −120 −60 0 60 120 −120 −60 0 60 120
x (nm) x (nm) x (nm)
−2
×10 ×10−10
150 150 150
1.9
4
65% absorption

100 100 100

20
1.3
z (nm)

50 50 50
2
10 0.7
0 0 0

−50 0 0.1 0
−50 −50
−120 −60 0 60 120 −120 −60 0 60 120 −120 −60 0 60 120
x (nm) x (nm) x (nm)

Figure 20: Electric and magnetic field and absorbed power density for a structure with nearly perfect maximum absorption at the resonance
frequency and a structure with 65% maximum absorption [70].

transmission, respectively. Since 𝑇 is 0 due to the optically 3.2. All Dielectric Silicon Cylinder. Due to the aforemen-
thick Ag film, naturally, for a perfect reflector we require that tioned shortcomings of plasmonic metamaterials, all dielec-
the absorption is 0. In order to achieve a broadband design, tric metamaterials utilising Mie resonances [48] in high per-
the simple linearly changing width of the antenna causes the mittivity dielectric resonators offer a great choice as a low loss
relative phase shift along the metasurfaces to be continu- alternative at optical frequencies. Additionally, metallic based
ously modulated. Because the thickness of the antenna is of nanosurfaces are often based on complicated and difficult to
deep-subwavelength scale the light propagation path can be produce patterns that require the use of techniques such as
neglected and the phase discontinuity is only induced by the electron beam lithography to be fabricated [49, 50, 93]. These
ultrathin metasurface. This produces a reflection of the beam techniques are not only slow but expensive which prohibits
to an arbitrary direction determined by the gradient of the them from being used on a larger scale. Usually dielectric
phase change, and since in the configuration described in based metamaterials are based on simpler unit cell geometries
[82] there is no spatial-variant phase shift in the 𝑥-direction, such as spheres, cubes, and rods, so they can be patterned
generalised Snell’s law for reflection [83] is reduced to with alternative and cheaper techniques, allowing them to be
scaled to large areas [94–98].
𝜆 0 𝑑𝜙 Recent work by Moitra et al. [98] designed an all dielectric
𝜃𝑟 = arcsin ( ), (7) perfect reflector at telecommunications frequencies, based on
2𝜋 𝑑𝑦
silicon cylinder resonators and fabricated using self-assembly
based nanosphere lithography [99, 100]. While there is,
where 𝜃𝑟 is the angle of reflection, 𝜆 0 is the vacuum wave-
certainly, disorder originating from the self-assembly process,
length, and 𝑑𝜙/𝑑𝑦 is the phase shift along the 𝑦-axis of the
an average reflectance of 99.7% at 1530 nm was measured.
interface. This produces an additional effective wave vector
This is actually higher than the reflectance of metallic mirrors.
to the reflected photons; thus different wavelengths of light
are reflected at different angles, giving a rainbow anomalous
reflection [87, 88]. 4. Conclusion
This design exhibits high broadband reflectivity with an
average of over 86% between 450 and 800 nm. This type Here we presented a variety of perfect light absorbing and
of reflector device could be providing functionality in such reflecting mechanisms and device designs with a range
practical settings as a polarisation beam splitter and high of functionalities and working frequencies, from THz to
efficiency plasmon coupler as well as flat lenses [80, 89–91] visible light. The key to unlocking effective and efficient
and mirrors [92]. perfect absorbers and reflectors is found in the electric and
Journal of Nanomaterials 15

(a) (b)

Figure 21: (a) Schematic drawing of trapezoid shaped nanorod array. (b) SEM image of the Au trapezoid nanorods on top of SiO2 and Ag
substrate [82].

magnetic resonances of the metamaterial or metasurface. utilising dielectric materials in combination with metals, we
By carefully designing the metasurface we can satisfy the are heading towards highly tuneable and robust metasurfaces
impedance matching condition, 𝜇(𝜔) = 𝜀(𝜔), of the but at the moment we are hindered by the limitations of
magnetic permeability and electric permittivity. By finely the current, slow fabrication processes. There are further
tuning the dimensions and design of the metasurface we have potential directions to be explored that were not covered
the ability to precisely control these parameters. in this paper, such as the use of liquid crystals in strategic
By changing the structuring of the surface, we have the locations in the metamaterial and the use of phase change
capability of switching between polarisation dependent and materials. Both of these approaches add an extra degree
independence. In a device discussed here, it has been shown of freedom to the tunability of the metasurface that can
that this freedom of polarisation could be of great use for be controlled electrically or optically. The advancement of
applications such as sensing. Incident angle independence perfect absorbers and reflectors has a great deal of real world
has also been shown in many different applications which is applicability and could pave the way for future technological
a valuable characteristic for devices such as solar cells, but advances in many fields.
not always a necessary feature. By combining gratings within
such devices, it has been shown that we can also recover Conflicts of Interest
incident angle dependence at will.
Both broadband and narrowband perfect absorbers have The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
numerous useful applications. One of the main focuses is to
address the limitations of metallic absorbers by incorporating Acknowledgments
dielectric material into the designs, thereby reducing losses
due to ohmic losses, heat generation in the metal, and This work is financially supported by the National Research
the excitation of surface plasmons at higher frequencies. Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry
Ultrabroadband metasurfaces could open the possibilities of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of Korean
of creating optically thin coatings that can be designed to government (CAMM-2014M3A6B3063708 and NRF-
have spectral properties as we desire over large spectral 2015R1A5A1037668).
ranges, leading to applications such as camouflage, control
of radiative heat transfer, and structural colouration. At the References
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