Wideband visible-light absorption in an ultrathin silicon nanostructure

We design a new kind of metamaterial absorber in the form of an ultrathin silicon nanostructure capable of having wideband absorption of visible light. We show that our metamaterial can exhibit almost perfect absorption of incident light even though its thickness is several tens of times smaller than the optical wavelength. The combination of two resonant modes in a single nanostructure allows us to achieve absorptivities exceeding 80% in a wide band spanning from 437.9 to 578.3 nm. The physical origins of the two modes, elucidated via the analysis of current distribution inside the nanostructure, explain different metamaterial absorptivities for oblique incidence of TE- and TM-polarized waves. Our study opens a new prospect in designing ultrathin, yet wideband visible-light absorbers based on silicon. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America