A polarization-independent and omnidirectional nearly perfect absorber in the visible region has been proposed. The absorber is two-layer structure consisting of a subwavelength metal grating layer embedded in the high refractive index and lossless dielectric layer on the metal substrate. Extraordinary optical absorption with absorption peaks of over 99% can be achieved over the whole visible region for both TM and TE polarization. This absorption is attributed to cavity mode (CM) resonance caused by the coupled surface plasmon polaritons (SPP). Through adjusting the grating thickness, the absorption peak can be tuned linearly, which is highly advantageous to design various absorbers. Furthermore, the absorbance retains ultra-high over a wide angular range of incidence for both TM and TE polarization. This nearly perfect absorber offers great potential in the refractive index (RI) sensors, integrated photodetectors, solar cells and so on.

Whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) optical resonators are ideal systems for achieving electromagnetically induced transparency-like phenomenon. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that one or more transparent windows can be achieved with coupled-mode induced transparency (CMIT) in a single bottle WGM resonator due to the bottle’s dense mode spectra and tunable resonant frequencies. This device offers an approach for multi-channel all-optical switching devices and sensitivity-enhanced WGM-based sensors.