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In modern thermal infrared applications, multi-spectral camouflage scenarios should be developed to mitigate the thermal signature of an object. In general, camouflage needs to be satisfied in two main optical ranges: visible, and infrared (IR). In the IR range, two main camera modes are deployed to detect the IR signature of an object: $i) $ short-wave IR (SWIR) cameras that detect the solar photons reflected off a surface, $ii) $ mid-wave IR (MWIR) and long-wave IR (LWIR) cameras that directly collect the blackbody photons emitted from a hot object. Therefore, in an ideal scheme to acquire a multi-spectral camouflage function with self-cooling capability, the object should have: $i) $ perfect absorption in the SWIR range, $ii) $ perfect reflection in the MWIR and LWIR ranges, $iii) $ perfect absorption and one-way transmission in non-transmissive IR (NTIR) window (to radiatively cool itself), and $iv) $ visible transparency (to keep background visual appearance intact and to minimize the heat build-up due to solar absorption). In this paper, an all-dielectric nanoantenna emitter design is developed to comply with all the above-mentioned requirements. The approach relies on the indium tin oxide (ITO) grating structures coated on a flexible and transparent substrate (polystyrene). The spectral behaviors of the proposed structure are obtained using both analytical and numerical approaches. The design has an absorption peak with 0.8 amplitude in the SWIR mode (for the backward and forward illuminations), while it shows average reflections $\simeq 0.7 $ in the MWIR and LWIR ranges for the forward illumination. The peak values of transmission and absorption within the NTIR window for the forward illumination are around 0.6 and 0.9, respectively. Meanwhile, the use of lossless materials within the visible range provides visible light transmission and minimizes the heat build-up due to solar absorption. In addition, the radiated power calculation model is utilized to demonstrate the low power detection on the IR cameras.

We propose a dual-band metamaterial perfect absorber to achieve a narrowband absorption response in the visible range and a broadband absorptive characteristic in the near-infrared region. Moreover, by increasing the in-plane symmetry of the metamaterial, the polarization insensitive and angle insensitive absorptive features are verified.

A thermally tunable nanoantenna emitter based on a hybrid design made of a metamaterial absorber and a phase change material is developed for thermal camouflage applications. The proposed design perfectly mimics the atmospheric windows to obtain invisibility within the operating range of thermal cameras.

We present a narrow-band optical diode with a high-contrast forward-to-backward ratio at the near-infrared region. The design has a forward transmission of approximately $88\% $, and a backward one of less than $3\% $, yielding a contrast ratio of greater than $14.5\,$ dB at a wavelength of $1550\,$ nm. The structure is composed of a one-dimensional diffraction grating on top of a dielectric slab waveguide, both of which are made of silicon nitride (Si3N4), and all together are placed over a silver (Ag) thin film embedded on a dielectric substrate. Utilizing a dielectric-based diffraction grating waveguide on a thin silver layer leads to the simultaneous excitation of two surface plasmon modes known as long- and short-range surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at both interfaces of the metallic layer. The plasmon-tunneling effect, which is the result of the coupling of SPPs excited at the upper interface of the metallic layer to the radiation modes, provides a high asymmetric transmission (AT) property. The spectral response of the proposed high-contrast AT device is verified using both rigorous coupled-wave analysis as an analytical approach and finite difference time domain as a numerical one.

Metamaterial perfect absorbers (MPAs) with dynamic thermal tuning features are able to control the absorption performance of the resonances, providing diverse applications spanning from optical switches and filters to modulators. In this paper, we propose an MPA with diverse functionalities enabled by vanadium dioxide (VO2) embedded in a metal-dielectric plasmonic structure. For the initial design purpose, a silicon (Si) nanograting on a silver (Ag) mirror is proposed to have multiple resonant responses in the near infrared (NIR) region. Then, the insertion of a thin VO2 layer at the right position enables the design to act as an on/off switch and resonance tuner. In the insulator phase of VO2, in which the permittivity data of VO2 is similar to that of Si, a double strong resonant behavior is achieved within the NIR region. By increasing the temperature, the state of VO2 transforms from insulator to metallic so that the absorption bands turn into three distinct resonant peaks with close spectral positions. Upon this transformation, a new resonance emerges and the existing resonance features experience blue/red shifts in the spectral domain. The superposition of these peaks makes the overall absorption bandwidth broad. Although Si has a small thermo-optic coefficient, owing to strong light confinement in the ultrasmall gaps, a substantial tuning can be achieved within the Si nanogratings. Therefore, the proposed hybrid design can provide multi-resonance tunable features to cover a broad range and can be a promising strategy for the design of linearly thermal-tunable and broadband MPAs. Owing to the proposed double tuning feature, the resonance wavelengths exhibits great sensitivity to temperature, covering a broad wavelength range $$.$$ Overall, the proposed design strategy demonstrates diverse functionalities enabled by the integration of a thin VO2 layer with plasmonic absorbers.

Wavelength-selective nanoantenna emitters have attracted considerable attention due to their widespread applications ranging from thermal radiation management to thermophotovoltaics. In this paper, we design a wavelength-selective nanoantenna emitter based on the excitation of gap-surface plasmon modes using a metal–insulator–metal configuration (silicon dioxide (SiO2) sandwiched between silver (Ag) layers) for satisfying multiple infrared applications. The proposed design, which is called design I, realizes triple narrowband perfect absorptions at the resonance wavelengths of 1524nm,2279nm, and 6000nm, which perfectly match the atmospheric absorption bands while maintaining relatively low emissivity in the atmospheric transparency windows of 3-5 µm and 8-12 µm. Later, the functionality of design I is extended, which is called design II, to include a broadband absorption at the near-infrared region to minimize the solar irradiation reflection from the nanoantenna emitter. Finally, single- and three-layer graphene are introduced to provide a real-time tuning of the infrared signature of the proposed nanoantenna emitter (design II). It is also demonstrated that the three-layer graphene structure can suppress an undesired absorption resonance wavelength related to the intrinsic vibrational modes (optical phonons) of the SiO2 layer by 53.19% compared to 25.53% for the single-layer one. The spectral analysis of design I is validated using both analytical and numerical approaches where the numerical simulation domain is extended for the analysis of design II. The thermal characteristic analyses of design I and design II (without/with graphene layers) reveal that infrared signatures of the blackbody radiation are significantly reduced for the whole wavelength spectrum at least by 96% and 91% within a wide temperature ranging from room temperature to 500K, respectively.

Recently, camouflage technology has attracted researchers’ attention in a large variety of thermal applications. As a special phase change material (PCM), vanadium dioxide (VO2) is an excellent candidate for the studies conducted on thermal camouflage technology. VO2 has a transition from the insulator phase to the metal phase with the increase of the temperature. With regards to this unique feature, VO2 can contribute dynamic properties to the camouflage design. In this paper, a PCM–dielectric based metamaterial mid-infrared adaptive thermal camouflage nanoantenna is designed to perfectly mimic the atmospheric windows. The adaptive property of the proposed structure is obtained by using an ultrathin VO2 interlayer embedded within the grating. The spectral responses of the structure are computed using the finite difference time domain method, and the invisibility of the structure is proved using power calculations in the different mid-infrared regions.

In this article, a novel compact reconfigurable antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology is introduced. The geometry of the proposed antennas is symmetric with respect to the horizontal center line. The electrical shape of the antenna is composed of double H-plane SIW based horn antennas and radio frequency micro electro mechanical system (RF-MEMS) actuators. The RF-MEMS actuators are integrated in the planar structure of the antenna for reconfiguring the radiation pattern by adding nulls to the pattern. The proper activation/deactivation of the switches alters the modes distributed in the structure and changes the radiation pattern. When different combinations of switches are on or off, the radiation patterns have 2, 4, 6, 8, . . . nulls with nearly similar operating frequencies. The attained peak gain of the proposed antenna is higher than 5 dB at any point on the far field radiation pattern except at the null positions. The design procedure and closed form formulation are provided for analytical determination of the antenna parameters. Moreover, the designed antenna with an overall dimensions of only 63.6 × 50 mm2 is fabricated and excited through standard SMA connector and compared with the simulated results. The measured results show that the antenna can clearly alters its beams using the switching components. The proposed antenna retains advantages of low cost, low cross-polarized radiation, and easy integration of configuration.