Large-Scale Laser Nanopatterning of Multiband Tunable Mid-Infrared Metasurface Absorber

Large-scale nanopatterning at low cost and high throughput is crucial to the practical applications of metasurfaces. Phase-change materials equipped in these metasurfaces as modulation layers or resonators are generally applied to achieve a tunable function and have attracted significant attention. Here, an efficient method is developed by combining ultrafast laser localized modification/ablation and subsequent etching to fabricate nanostructures on a phase-change material, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), over a wafer-sized area. The localized laser treatments under gradually increased laser fluences contribute to the variety of achievable nanostructures including disk and ring structures, whose feature sizes and periods can be tuned by adjusting laser parameters and subsequent etching conditions. A mid-infrared metasurface absorber is designed and fabricated by using the GST ring units as resonators. Notably, varying the geometrical features of rings allows generating dual-band and tri-band absorption peaks in the mid-infrared spectral range, whose peak absorptivity can reach approximate to 92%. By converting GST from amorphous to crystalline state, a broad absorption spectral redshift of 700 nm is achieved. The large-area high-throughput fabrication together with high-absorption design demonstrates their potential in mass production of phase-change metasurface-based absorbers.

Automated summary

Large-scale nanopatterning is crucial for the practical applications of metasurfaces, and phase-change materials have attracted significant attention for their tunable function and high absorption performance. In this study, an efficient method combining ultrafast laser modification and subsequent etching was developed to fabricate nanostructures on a phase-change material, Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST), over a wafer-sized area. The size and period of the nanostructures can be tuned by adjusting laser parameters and etching conditions. The fabricated metasurface absorber using GST as resonators achieved dual-band and tri-band absorption peaks in the mid-infrared range, with a peak absorptivity of approximately 92%. By converting GST from amorphous to crystalline state, a broad absorption spectral redshift of 700 nm was achieved.