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Updated: Sep 11, 2025

Simulation, Fabrication and Characterization of THz Metamaterial Absorbers
Published on: December 27, 2012
Perfect absorber due to optical Tamm states based on α-MoO3
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α-phase molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO3) is a biaxial van der Waals semiconductor with anisotropic phonon polaritons that exhibits elliptical and hyperbolic dispersion, enabling strong mid-infrared (mid-IR) light absorption. This study presents a composite structure consisting of an α-MoO3 layer and two one-dimensional photonic crystals (1DPCs). Perfect absorption is achieved for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarized light at the longitudinal and transverse optical phonon frequencies, respectively, due to the excitation of optical Tamm states (OTSs) at the α-MoO3/1DPC interface. Using the transfer matrix method (TMM) and electromagnetic field simulations, we analyze the mechanisms of absorption enhancement and investigate the effects of α-MoO3 thickness, top-layer photonic crystal width, and polarization angles. This study provides important theoretical guidance for designing α-MoO3-based advanced mid-IR detectors and sensing applications.
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