Dual-band high-absorption metasurface vanadium oxide uncooled detector

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Infrared Technology

Background:

• Vanadium oxide (VOx) uncooled detectors are crucial for infrared imaging due to their cost-effectiveness and lack of cooling needs.
• Decreasing pixel sizes in VOx detectors lead to reduced light absorption, hindering performance.
• Metasurfaces offer a promising solution for enhancing optical properties in micro-scale devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and validate a novel metasurface structure for VOx uncooled detectors to improve infrared absorptance.
• To address the challenge of reduced absorptance in miniaturized VOx detector pixels.
• To demonstrate the enhanced performance of a dual-layer metasurface VOx detector.

Main Methods:

• Utilized simulation optimization to design a "MIM+umbrella" dual-layer metasurface.
• Investigated absorption characteristics in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) bands.
• Fabricated and experimentally tested the proposed metasurface VOx detector, comparing its performance.

Main Results:

• Achieved over 97% average absorptance in the long-wave infrared range through simulation.
• Demonstrated excellent absorption characteristics in the mid-infrared band.
• Experimental validation confirmed the significant contribution of the dual-layer metasurface to detector absorptance.

Conclusions:

• The proposed "MIM+umbrella" metasurface structure effectively enhances absorptance in VOx uncooled detectors.
• This dual-layer metasurface design is feasible and offers superior performance compared to conventional structures.
• The findings pave the way for improved infrared detector technology with enhanced sensitivity and performance.