Publications

3D metamaterials for the thermal infrared

Burckel, David B.; Ten Eyck, Gregory A.; Sinclair, Michael B.; Wendt, J.R.

Metamaterials form a new class of artificial electromagnetic materials that provides the device designer with the ability to manipulate the flow of electromagnetic energy in ways that are not achievable with naturally occurring materials. However, progress toward practical implementation of metamaterials, particularly at infrared and visible frequencies, has been hampered by a combination of absorptive losses; the narrow band nature of the resonant metamaterial response; and the difficulty in fabricating fully 3-dimensional structures. They describe the progress of a recently initiated program at Sandia National Laboratories directed toward the development of practical 3D metamaterials operating in the thermal infrared. They discuss their analysis of fundamental loss limits for different classes of metamaterials. In addition, they discuss new design approaches that they are pursuing which reduce the reliance on metallic structures in an effort to minimize ohmic losses.