Highly Sensitive and Cost-Effective Polymeric-Sulfur-Based Mid-Wavelength Infrared Linear Polarizers with Tailored Fabry-Pérot Resonance

Woongbi Cho; Jehwan Hwang; Sang Yeon Lee; Jaeseo Park; Nara Han; Chi Hwan Lee; Sang-Woo Kang; Augustine Urbas; Jun Oh Kim; Zahyun Ku; Jeong Jae Wie

doi:10.1002/adma.202209377

Highly Sensitive and Cost-Effective Polymeric-Sulfur-Based Mid-Wavelength Infrared Linear Polarizers with Tailored Fabry-Pérot Resonance

Adv Mater. 2023 Feb;35(7):e2209377. doi: 10.1002/adma.202209377. Epub 2022 Dec 19.

Authors

Woongbi Cho¹, Jehwan Hwang², Sang Yeon Lee³, Jaeseo Park^{4

5}, Nara Han^{6

7}, Chi Hwan Lee^{2

8

9

10}, Sang-Woo Kang^{4

5}, Augustine Urbas¹¹, Jun Oh Kim⁴, Zahyun Ku¹¹, Jeong Jae Wie^{1

7

12

13

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Organic and Nano Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimmni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
² Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
³ Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Michuhol-gu, Incheon, 22212, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Advanced Instrumentation Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, 267 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Precision Measurement, University of Science and Technology (UST), 267 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Program in Environmental and Polymer Engineering, Inha University, 100 Inha-ro, Michuhol-gu, Incheon, 22212, Republic of Korea.
⁷ Department of Chemical Engineering, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.
⁸ School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
⁹ School of Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
¹⁰ Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
¹¹ Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH, 45433, USA.
¹² Human-Tech Convergence Program, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimmni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
¹³ Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimmni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
¹⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimmni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
¹⁵ The Michael M. Szwarc Polymer Research Institute, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.

PMID: 36461881
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202209377

Abstract

Inverse-vulcanized polymeric sulfur has received considerable attention for application in waste-based infrared (IR) polarizers with high polarization sensitivities, owing to its high transmittance in the IR region and thermal processability. However, there have been few reports on highly sensitive polymeric sulfur-based polarizers by replication of pre-simulated dimensions to achieve a high transmission of the transverse magnetic field (T_TM ) and extinction ratio (ER). Herein, a 400-nanometer-pitch mid-wavelength infrared bilayer linear polarizer with self-aligned metal gratings is introduced on polymeric sulfur gratings integrated with a spacer layer (SM-polarizer). The dimensions of the SM-polarizer can be closely replicated using pre-simulated dimensions via a systematic investigation of thermal nanoimprinting conditions. Spacer thickness is tailored from 40 to 5100 nm by adjusting the concentration of polymeric sulfur solution during spin-coating. A tailored spacer thickness can maximize T_TM in the broadband MWIR region by satisfying Fabry-Pérot resonance. The SM-polarizer yields T_TM of 0.65, 0.59, and 0.43 and ER of 3.12 × 10³ , 5.19 × 10³ , and 5.81 × 10³ at 4 µm for spacer thicknesses of 90, 338, and 572 nm, respectively. This demonstration of a highly sensitive and cost-effective SM-polarizer opens up exciting avenues for infrared polarimetric imaging and for applications in polarization manipulation.

Keywords: Fabry-Pérot resonance; inverse vulcanization; linear polarizer; mid-wavelength infrared; polymeric sulfur.

Abstract

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