Tunable Broadband Terahertz Metamaterial Absorber Based on Vanadium Dioxide and Graphene

We propose a dynamically tunable ultra-broadband terahertz metamaterial absorber, which was based on graphene and vanadium oxide (VO₂) and numerically demonstrated. The excellent absorption bandwidth almost entirely greater than 90% was as wide as 6.35 THz from 2.30 to 8.65 THz under normal incidence. By changing the conductivity of VO₂ from 20 S/m to 3 × 10⁵ S/m, the absorption intensity could be dynamically tuned from 6% to 99%. The physical mechanism of the ultra-wideband absorption is discussed based on the interference cancelation, impedance matching theory, and field distributions, and the influences of the structural parameters on absorption are also discussed. According to the symmetric configuration, the absorption spectra of the considered polarizations were very close to each other, resulting in a polarization-insensitive structure. Such a tunable ultra-broadband absorber may have promising potential in the applications of modulating, cloaking, switching, and imaging technology.