Strong absorption and selective thermal emission from a midinfrared metamaterial

We demonstrate thin-film metamaterials with resonances in the midinfrared (mid-IR) wavelength range. Our structures are numerically modeled and experimentally characterized by reflection and angularly resolved thermal emission spectroscopy. We demonstrate strong and controllable absorption resonances across the mid-IR wavelength range. In addition, the polarized thermal emission from these samples is shown to be highly selective and largely independent of emission angles from normal to 45°. Experimental results are compared to numerical models with excellent agreement. Such structures hold promise for large-area, low-cost metamaterial coatings for control of gray- or black-body thermal signatures, as well as for possible mid-IR sensing applications.