In this paper, a metal-dielectric-metal structure based on a Fabry–Perot cavity was proposed, which can provide near 100% perfect narrow-band absorption. The lossy ultrathin silver film was used as the top layer spaced by a lossless silicon oxide layer from the bottom silver mirror. We demonstrated a narrow bandwidth of 20 nm with 99.37% maximum absorption and the absorption peaks can be tuned by altering the thickness of the middle SiO₂ layer. In addition, we established a deep understanding of the physics mechanism, which provides a new perspective in designing such a narrow-band perfect absorber. The proposed absorber can be easily fabricated by the mature thin film technology independent of any nano structure, which make it an appropriate candidate for photodetectors, sensing, and spectroscopy.

In common plasmonic structures, absorption and radiation losses are often mutually restricted and can seriously influence the device performance. The current study presents a compound structure composed of multilayer grating stripes and multilayer shallow trenches. A small depth was adopted for the trench configuration to exclude the extra bend loss. These two sections supported Fabry–Perot resonance and cavity modes, respectively, with hybrid modes formed through intercoupling. In addition, the total loss for the entire framework was clearly reduced due to the introduction of the trench geometry, indicating that both absorption and radiation losses were successfully taken into consideration in the compound structure. Significantly, such a low loss realized by the hybridization of surface plasmon polariton modes has rarely been seen before. Moreover, the debatable relationship between the total and partial quality factors was described for the first time based on a hybrid mode analysis to establish a new approach to investigate the different resonance modes. In the detailed calculation process, the relative electric field intensity was first adopted to stipulate the effective areas for the various modes, which is more reasonable than using the common definition that is based on a unit structure. The multilayer trench grating exhibited a relatively low loss without weakening energy localization, which is significant in the design of plasmonic devices.

Broadband antireflection (AR) coatings are essential elements for improving the photocurrent generation of photovoltaic modules or the enhancement of visibility in optical devices. In this paper, we report a hybrid nanostructured antireflection coating combination that is a clean and efficient method for fabricating a nanostructured antireflection coating (ARC). A multilayer thin-film was introduced between the ARC and substrate to solve the significant problem of preparing nanostructured ARCs on different substrates. In this way, we rebuilt a gradient refractive index structure and optimize the antireflective property by simply adjusting the moth-eye structure and multilayers. Subwavelength-structured cone arrays were directly patterned using a self-assembled single-layer polystyrene (PS) nanosphere array as an etching mask. Nanostructure coatings exhibited excellent broadband and wide-angle antireflective properties. The bottom-up preparation process and hybrid structural combination have the potential to significantly enhance the broadband and wide-angle antireflective properties for a number of optical systems that require high transparency, which is promising for reducing the manufacturing cost of nanostructured AR coatings.

A large area and broadband ultra-black absorber based on microstructured aluminum (Al) doped silicon (Si) films prepared by a low-cost but very effective approach is presented. The average absorption of the absorber is greater than 99% within the wide range from 350 nm to 2000 nm, and its size reaches to 6 inches. We investigate the fabrication mechanism of the absorber and find that the Al atom doped in silicon improves the formation of the nanocone-like microstructures on the film surface, resulting in a significant decrease in the reflection of incident light. The absorption mechanism is further discussed by experiments and simulated calculations in detail. The results show that the doped Al atoms and Mie resonance formed in the microstructures contribute the broadband super-high absorption.

We report a theoretical and experimental study on a novel type of aluminum super absorber which exhibits a near perfect absorption based on the surface plasmon resonance in the visible and near-infrared spectrum. The absorber consists of Ag/SiO₂/Al triple layers in which the top Al layer is patterned by a periodic nano hole array. The absorption spectrum can be easily controlled by adjusting the structure parameters including the radius of the nano hole and the maximal absorption can reach 99.0% in theory. We completely analyze the SPP and LSP modes supported by the metal-dielectric-metal structure and their contribution to the ultrahigh absorption. On this basis, we find a novel method to enhance the absorption via the simultaneous excitation of SPP at different interfaces theoretically and experimentally. Moreover, for the first time we clarify the EOT caused by the nano hole array can enhance the absorption by experiment, which is not reported in previous works. This kind of absorber can be fabricated by low-cost colloidal sphere lithography and the use of stable Al overcomes the disadvantages brought by the noble metal, which make it a more appropriate candidate for photovoltaics, spectroscopy, photodetectors, sensing, and surface enhanced Raman scattering.