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A 90-nm-thick graphene metamaterial for strong and extremely broadband absorption of unpolarized light

Nature Photonics volume 13, pages 270–276 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Broadband strong light absorption of unpolarized light over a wide range of angles in a large-area ultrathin film is critical for applications such as photovoltaics, photodetectors, thermal emitters and optical modulators. Despite long-standing efforts in design and fabrication, it has been challenging to achieve all these desired properties simultaneously. We experimentally demonstrate a 12.5 cm2, 90-nm-thick graphene metamaterial with approximately 85% absorptivity of unpolarized, visible and near-infrared light covering almost the entire solar spectrum (300–2,500 nm). The metamaterial consists of alternating graphene and dielectric layers; a grating couples the light into waveguide modes to achieve broadband absorption over incident angles up to 60°. The very broad spectral and angular responses of the absorber are ideal for solar thermal applications, as we illustrate by showing heating to 160 °C in natural sunlight. These devices open a novel approach to applications of strongly absorbing large-area photonic devices based on two-dimensional materials.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of graphene-based metamaterial absorber.
Fig. 2: Calculated absorptivity spectra of graphene-based material absorber.
Fig. 3: Fabrication process and results of graphene-based metamaterial absorber.
Fig. 4: Measured absorptivity spectra of graphene-based metamaterial absorber.
Fig. 5: Measured absorptivity spectra and photo-thermal performance of a large-area graphene-based metamaterial absorber.

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The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

B.J. and K.L. acknowledge the support from the Australian Research Council (DP190103186). Discussions with K. Catchpole and T. White from the Australian National University during the early stages of this research are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Micro-Photonics, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

    Han Lin, Keng-Te Lin, Yunyi Yang, Xiaorui Zheng & Baohua Jia

  2. IPOS, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Björn C. P. Sturmberg & C. Martijn de Sterke

  3. Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Research School of Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

    Teck K. Chong

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  1. Han Lin
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  8. Baohua Jia
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Contributions

H.L., B.S., C.M.d.S. and B.J. conceived original idea and proposed the project. H.L. X.Z. and Y.Y. carried out experiments including GO film synthesis, laser fabrication and characterizations. B.S. and C.M.d.S. developed the theoretical models and numerical simulations. T.C. coated the Ag reflector and SiO2 spacer layer on silicon substrates. H.L. and K.L. performed the thermal imaging and temperature measurement. H.L., K.L., B.S., C.M.d.S. and B.J. contributed to data analysis and writing and revising the manuscript. C.M.d.S. and B.J. supervised the project. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to C. Martijn de Sterke or Baohua Jia.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary results and discussion, Supplementary Figures 1–17, Supplementary Tables 1–4 and Supplementary References 1–5.

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Lin, H., Sturmberg, B.C.P., Lin, KT. et al. A 90-nm-thick graphene metamaterial for strong and extremely broadband absorption of unpolarized light. Nat. Photonics 13, 270–276 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0389-3

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