Active infrared tuning of metal–insulator-metal resonances by VO2 thin film

VO₂ is a promising phase change material offering a large contrast of electric, thermal, and optical properties when transitioning from semiconductor to metallic phase. Here we show that a hybrid metamaterial obtained by proper combination of a VO₂ layer and a nanodisk gold array provides a tunable plasmonic gap resonance in the infrared range. Specifically, we have designed and fabricated a metal-insulator-metal gap resonance by inserting sub-wavelength VO₂ film between a flat gold layer and a gold nanodisk resonator array. The resonance of the hybrid metamaterial is centered in the useful 3-5 μm range when VO₂ is in its semiconductor state. The experimental study highlights a monotonical spectral tuning of the resonance when increasing temperature up to 50 °C above the room temperature, providing a continuous resonance shift of almost 1 μm in the mid-infrared range. Wavelength range and intensity tunability can be further optimized by modifying the thicknesses of the layers and metamaterial parameters.