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Polarization-Selective and Tunable Metal-Dielectric (Al-Al2O3) Multilayer Negative Index Metamaterial Absorber

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Abstract

This research presents a novel metal-dielectric (Al-Al2O3) multilayer structure operating in the nanometer range, exhibiting exceptional absorption properties in the visible range at a glancing angle. The structure consists of two layers of Al-Al2O3 with an additional dielectric Al2O3 layer atop an air-like aerogel substrate. The proposed assembly enables tunability of absorption characteristics by varying the thickness of the top dielectric layer. Effective electromagnetic property analysis reveals a remarkable negative refractive index, categorizing the structure as a negative index metamaterial. Its simple planar configuration makes it facile for fabrication, promising potential applications in various sensing and device development domains.

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  • Metal-organic Frameworks
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Acknowledgments

K. Kishor would like to acknowledge the initiatives and support from the TIFAC—Centre of Relevance and Excellence in Fiber Optics and Optical Communication at Delhi College of Engineering, now DTU, Delhi, under the Mission REACH program of Technology Vision-2020, Government of India.

Funding

MNB and K. Kim would like to acknowledge the financial support for this work by the Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT) grant funded by the Korea government (DAPA—Defense Acquisition Program Administration) No. 20-105-E00-005, KRIT-CT-23-010, VTOL Technology Research Center for Defense Applications, 2023.

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Author notes

  1. Monu Nath Baitha

    Present address: Department of Information Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Monu Nath Baitha & Kyoungsik Kim

  2. Functional Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Physics, ARSD College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 110021, India

    S. Shankar

  3. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Centre of Excellence for Nanotechnology, Koneru Lakshmaiah Education Foundation, Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh, 522302, India

    Santosh Kumar

  4. Applied Physics Department, TIFAC-Centre of Relevance and Excellence in Fiber Optics and Optical Communications, Delhi Technological University (Formerly Delhi College of Engineering), Bawana Road, New Delhi, Delhi, 110 042, India

    Kamal Kishor

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Monu Nath Baitha, Kamal Kishor or Kyoungsik Kim.

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Baitha, M.N., Shankar, S., Kumar, S. et al. Polarization-Selective and Tunable Metal-Dielectric (Al-Al2O3) Multilayer Negative Index Metamaterial Absorber. J. Electron. Mater. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-025-12137-6

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  • DOI  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-025-12137-6

Keywords

  • Multilayer
  • polarization-selective
  • metamaterial
  • plasmonic
  • negative refractive index

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