Letter abstract
Nature Photonics 2, 299 - 301 (2008)
Published online: 27 April 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphoton.2008.76
Subject Categories: Nanophotonics | Plasmonics
Omnidirectional absorption in nanostructured metal surfaces
T. V. Teperik1,2, F. J. García de Abajo1,2, A. G. Borisov2,3, M. Abdelsalam4, P. N. Bartlett4, Y. Sugawara5 & J. J. Baumberg5
Abstract
Light absorbers available at present provide far from optimal black-body performance. The need for more efficient absorbers is particularly acute on the microscale, where they can play a significant role in preventing crosstalk between optical interconnects, and also as thermal light-emitting sources. Several efforts have been made in this context to achieve near-total but directionally dependent absorption using periodic grating structures1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. However, the ability to absorb light completely for any incident direction of light remains a challenge. Here we show that total omnidirectional absorption of light can be achieved in nanostructured metal surfaces that sustain localized optical excitations. The effect is realized over a full range of incident angles and can be tuned throughout the visible and near-infrared regimes by scaling the nanostructure dimensions. We suggest that surfaces displaying omnidirectional absorption will play a key role in devising efficient photovoltaic cells in which the absorbed light leads to electron–hole pair production.
- Instituto de Óptica – CSIC, Serrano 121, 28006 Madrid, Spain
- Donostia International Physics Center, Aptdo. 1072, 20080 San Sebastian, Spain
- Laboratoire des Collisions Atomiques et Moléculaires, UMR 8625 CNRS–Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
- School of Chemistry, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
Correspondence to: F. J. García de Abajo1,2 e-mail: jga@cfmac.csic.es
Correspondence to: T. V. Teperik1,2 On leave from: Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (Saratov Division), Russian Academy of Sciences, Zelyonaya 38, 410019 Saratov, Russia
Correspondence to: J. J. Baumberg5 Present address: NanoPhotonics Centre, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge, JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 OHE, UK