Ultra-wideband polarization-incident angle insensitive nano-scale metamaterial absorber for solar energy harvesting and infrared detection

This manuscript demonstrates a new nanoscale metamaterial absorber (NMMA) based on simulation-driven design for maximizing the absorption of solar energy, from the infrared to ultraviolet regions. The design is comprised of square box and plus ring resonators interconnected with elliptic rods and made the use of gold and nickel on a quartz substrate with a gold ground plane. The absorption of the NMMA is more than 95% at 633.20-816.80 THz and 1034.40-1401.60 THz, with an average value of 96.89%, which shows excellent absorption in the visible to partial ultraviolet regions. In addition, the absorption bandwidth from 422.40 to 1818.10 THz in the structure significantly covers infrared, visible and ultraviolet ranges with an average absorption of 88.49% and peak absorption 99.83% at 708.00 THz established for the whole range. This NMMA has very high absorption performance for the incident light of any polarization and an off-normal angle within 30°, and is still highly efficient even after bending with an angle as large as 18°. Material selection, physics of the geometric parameters and structural direction bending on the absorption, investigation of field distributions, surface currents as well as power loss are also discussed. This kind of NMMA holds promising engineering prospects for infrared detection and solar energy utilizing.