Aperiodic multilayer graphene based tunable and switchable thermal emitter at mid-infrared frequencies

摘要

Graphene attracts enormous interest for photonic applications as it provides a degree of freedom to manipulate electromagnetic waves. In this paper, we present new graphene-based aperiodic multi layer structures as selective, tunable, and switchable thermal emitters at infrared frequencies. For these optimized aperiodic thermal emitters, we investigate the effect of the chemical potential and number of graphene layers on the range of selectivity, tunability, and switchability of thermal emittance. We find that the proposed thermal emitters show about an order of magnitude narrower thermal band, e.g., improved selectivity. The tunability of thermal power emitted from the structure with 32 graphene layers is similar to 3.5 times larger than that of the structure with eight graphene layers, changing from lambda = 3.34,mu m to 2.85,mu m by increasing the chemical potential from 0.0 eV to 1.0 eV. We demonstrate that the arrangement with 32 graphene layers can decrease by similar to 83% of the power emitted for lambda = 3.34,mu m, providing similar to 4.5 times stronger switchability than for the structure with eight graphene layers. The electrically dynamic control of the proposed graphene-based aperiodic multilayer structures can pave the way for a new class of in situ wavelength selective, tunable, and switchable thermal sources. Published by AIP Publishing.