Micro-electro-mechanically switchable near infrared complementary metamaterial absorber

We experimentally demonstrate a micro-electro-mechanically switchable near infrared complementary metamaterial absorber by integrating the metamaterial layer to be the out of plane movable microactuator. The metamaterial layer is electrostatically actuated by applying voltage across the suspended complementary metamaterial layer and the stationary bottom metallic reflector. Thus, the effective spacing between the metamaterial layer and bottom metal reflector is varied as a function of applied voltage. With the reduction of effective spacing between the metamaterial and reflector layers, a strong spectral blue shift in the peak absorption wavelength can be achieved. With spacing change of 300 nm, the spectral shift of 0.7 mu m in peak absorption wavelength was obtained for near infrared spectral region. The electro-optic switching performance of the device was characterized, and a striking switching contrast of 1500% was achieved at 2.1 mu m. The reported micro-electro-mechanically tunable complementary metamaterial absorber device can potentially enable a wide range of high performance electro-optical devices, such as continuously tunable filters, modulators, and electro-optic switches that form the key components to facilitate future photonic circuit applications. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.