Active controllable dual broadband terahertz absorber based on hybrid metamaterials with vanadium dioxide

In this paper, we present an active controllable terahertz absorber with dual broadband characteristics, comprised by two diagonal identical patterns of vanadium dioxide in the top layer of the classical three-layer structure of metamaterial perfect absorbers. Simulation results show that two bandwidths of 80% absorption are 0.88 THz and 0.77 THz from 0.56 to 1.44 THz and 2.88 to 3.65 THz, respectively. By using thermal control to change the conductivity of the vanadium dioxide, absorptance can be continuously adjusted from 20% to 90%. The impedance matching theory is introduced to analyze and elucidate the physical mechanism of the perfect absorption. Field analyses are further investigated to get more insight into the physical origin of the dual broadband absorption. In addition, incident polarization insensitivity and wide-angle absorption are also demonstrated. The proposed absorber promises diverse applications in terahertz regime, such as imaging, modulating, sensing and cloaking. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement