Epsilon-near-zero material-based bi-layer metamaterials for selective mid-infrared radiation

Ju Chen; Xianghui Liu; Pan Wang; Chengyu Xiao; Shaowen Chen; Han Zhou

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ad074f

Epsilon-near-zero material-based bi-layer metamaterials for selective mid-infrared radiation

Nanotechnology. 2023 Nov 16;35(5). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ad074f.

Authors

Ju Chen¹, Xianghui Liu¹, Pan Wang¹, Chengyu Xiao¹, Shaowen Chen¹, Han Zhou^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People's Republic of China.
² Shenzhen Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shenzhen, 518057, People's Republic of China.
³ Future Materials Innovation Center, Zhangjiang Institute for Advanced Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 429 Zhangheng Road, Shanghai, 201203, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 37883949
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ad074f

Abstract

Selective mid-infrared (MIR) radiation is highly desirable in many applications. However, there are still great challenges to simultaneously achieve MIR camouflage and radiative cooling utilizing simple structure. This work theoretically and experimentally proposes a bi-layer metamaterial composed of aluminum doped zinc oxide (AZO) nanoparticles embedded in Al₂O₃matrix on the aluminum film. The bi-layer metamaterial exhibits high performance in MIR camouflage with radiative cooling, a low emissivity (ε3-5μm= 0.11,ε8-14μm= 0.20) in atmospheric windows and a high emissivity (ε5-8μm= 0.81) in non-atmospheric windows. The interaction of the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) mode and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) mode is responsible for the perfect emission over the wavelength range of 5-8μm. Additionally, the proposed selective MIR emitter supports large-angle incidence and has great polarization insensitivity. This demonstrates that epsilon-near-zero material-based bi-layer metamaterial is highly promising for the development of selective mid-infrared radiation.

Keywords: ENZ ceramics; MIR radiation; bi-layer metamaterial; effective permittivity.