Interference of Light in Multilayer Metasurfaces: Perfect Absorber and Antireflection Coating

We have studied several metamaterials structures with multiple layers by explaining them theoretically and verifying experimentally. The engineered structures we have designed work either as a perfect absorber or antireflection coating. The multilayer model as we call it Three Layer Model (TLM) has been developed, which gives the total reflection and transmission as a function of reflection and transmission of individual layers. By manipulating the amplitude and phase of the reflection and the transmission of the individual layers, we can get the required functionality of the optoelectronic devices. To get zero reflection in the both perfect absorber and the antireflection coating, the amplitude and phase conditions should be satisfied simultaneously. We have employed the numerical simulation of the structures to verify those conditions for all of the work presented here. As the theoretical retrieval method to extract the effective permittivity and effective permeability of the metamaterial contains air on the both side of the structure, we have dielectric at least on one side practically, that gives a little bit deviated result. We have modified the retrieval method to better fit with the multilayer structure by introducing air on the both side of the resonator using transfer matrix method and use it throughout all the works. We have explained the perfect absorption of the EM wave through Fabry-Perot cavity bounded by the resonator mirror and the metallic film. The metallic film acts as the close boundary whereas the resonator acts as the quasi-open boundary with very high effective permittivity, which leads to the characteristic feature of subwavelength thickness. We have shown numerically that the ultra-thin thickness makes the perfect absorber angular independent. We have also explained the phenomenon of perfect absorption through Impedance Matched Theory and Transmission Line Theory, and showed their matching with TLM. We have also developed the Meta Film Model by considering the resonator as a homogeneous thin film characterized by the effective permittivity and permeability giving rise to the same behavior as the original multilayer structure. We have shown that the resonance of the metamaterial resonator is very far from the resonance of the absorber, it behaves as the medium of high refractive index and very low loss. We have also shown that the density of states of the absorber is increased as compared to the resonator itself. We have investigated that the resonance peaks of the absorber arise from the combination of Fabry- Perot cavity modes and surface plasmon resonance modes. All the modes with increased spacer thickness are assigned with specific names describing the mode profiles. We have shown the application of perfect absorber as a refractive index sensor. It is used as a plasmonic sensor to detect the refractive index change of the chemical and biological samples. To increase the sensitivity, we have etched the dielectric spacer below the resonator, where electric field is localized and enhanced. We have found that the sensitivity (wavelength shift per refractive index change) and the Figure of Merit (FOM*) as an indicator of performance of the device both are enhanced significantly. We have employed metamaterial (MM) anti-reflection (AR) coating to avoid the shortcomings of the conventional thin film coating in three different cases of the structures. At first, we have deployed metamaterial Metal Disk Array (MDA) on the top of conventional coating material (BCB) with homogeneous substrate to enhance the transmission of EM wave. Then conventional AR coating is employed to the dispersive media (metal Hole Array) to enhance the transmission. We have shown that Impedance matched condition has been satisfied not only for homogeneous media, but for dispersive media also. At the end, we have employed the MM AR coating to the MM dispersive media (MHA). The two MM layers may interact with each other and may degrade the SPP wave of the MHA, which is essential to enhance the performance of the devices. To investigate the effect of interaction, we perform the simulation of the MDA, which shows that the resonance of the MDA is far from the antireflection resonance and hence the electric field of the SPP is significantly increased (~30%). With an improved retrieval method, the metasurface is proved to exhibit a high effective permittivity (εeff~30) and extremely low loss (tanδ~0.005). For all of the three AR structures, a classical thin film AR coating mechanism is identified through analytical derivations and numerical simulations. The properly designed εeff and μeff of the meta surface lead to the required phase and amplitude conditions for the AR coating, thereby paving the way for the improved performance of the optoelectronic devices. We have used MHA as a dispersive media to get extraordinary optical transmission (EOT). To understand the behavior of the SPP peaks, we have investigated the shifting and splitting of the spoof SPP resonance by varying the polar angle and azimuthal angle. The amplitude of extraordinary optical transmission also shows angle dependence and exhibits mirror-image or translational symmetries. Our measurements and simulations of the THz spoof SPP waves match very well with the theoretical predictions. The angle dependence results provide the important information for designing THz plasmonic devices in sensor and detector applications