Narrowband thermal emission from Tamm plasmons of a modified distributed Bragg reflector

Tamm plasmons (TPs), which exist at the interface between a metallic film and a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR), can be thermally excited and then out-coupled as thermal radiation, providing a means to realize easy-to-fabricate and wavelength-selective infrared emitters. A modified TP structure consisting of a DBR having a thick layer adjacent to the metallic film is proposed and high-intensity and narrowband thermal emission of the structure is demonstrated. The modified TP structure sustains a higher order TP mode with a higher quality factor (Q-factor) emittance peak than a standard TP structure. The measurement of the emission at 150 °C of the proposed TP structure reveals an emittance peak with a maximum value of 0.94, a background of 0.01, and a Q-factor of 48 at a wavelength around 5 μm. Moreover, a wide range of emission wavelengths (from 4.4 μm to 5.7 μm) is experimentally realized by adjusting the last DBR-layer thickness, thus demonstrating a fine selection of the emission peak wavelength.