Efficient multiband absorber based on one-dimensional periodic metal-dielectric photonic crystal with a reflective substrate

We propose an efficient multiband absorber comprised of a truncated, one-dimensional periodic metal-dielectric photonic crystal and a reflective substrate. The reflective substrate is essentially an optically thick metallic film. Such a planar device is easier to fabricate compared to absorbers with complicated shapes. For a four-unit cell device, all four of the absorption peaks can be optimized with efficiencies higher than 95 percent. Moreover, those absorption peaks are insensitive to the polarization and incident angle. The influences of the geometrical parameters and the refractive index of the dielectric on the device performance also are discussed. Furthermore, we found that the number of absorption peaks within each photonic band precisely corresponds to the number of unit cells because the truncated photonic crystal lattices select resonant modes. We also show that the total absorption efficiency gradually increases when there are more periods of the metal-dielectric composite layer placed on top of the metallic substrate. We expect this work to have potential applications in solar energy harvesting and thermal emission tailoring. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America