Metasurfaces and Metamaterials for Terahertz, Infrared, and Solar Applications
This community designs sub-wavelength structures to control electromagnetic waves, focusing on absorption, generation, and manipulation in the terahertz and infrared spectra, as well as solar energy harvesting.
The work centers on engineering metamaterials and metasurfaces to achieve specific optical responses, such as perfect absorption, polarization conversion, and tunable resonance. Recurring materials include graphene, vanadium dioxide for phase-change switching, and titanium nitride for solar applications. Key applications span terahertz sensing and imaging, mid-infrared spectroscopy, and broadband solar absorbers. The research frequently employs inverse design methods and utilizes phenomena like bound states in the continuum and surface plasmon resonance to enhance light-matter interaction.
The largest share of the community's output is found in silicon research, accounting for 0.8% of all silicon research, with 3,058 papers in this group. Gallium and indium also represent significant portions of their respective element research, each contributing 1.4% to their totals.
The community comprises 26,941 papers, publishing most frequently in Optics Express, Applied Physics Letters, and Optics & Laser Technology.
Recent work continues to focus on temperature-switchable terahertz absorbers using vanadium dioxide, broadband solar absorbers based on titanium nitride, and tunable mid-infrared devices utilizing graphene surface plasmons.