Ultra-broadband and wide-angle perfect absorber based on composite metal–semiconductor grating

In this letter, we present an ultra-broadband and wide-angle perfect absorber based on composite Ge–Ni grating. Near perfect absorption above 90% is achieved in a wide frequency range from 150 nm to 4200 nm, which covers almost the full spectrum of solar radiation. The absorption keeps robust in a wide range of incident angle from 0o to 60o. The upper triangle Ge grating works as an antireflection coating. The lower Ni grating works as a reflector and an effective energy trapper. The guided modes inside Ge grating are excited due to reflection of the lower Ni grating surface. In longer wavelength band, gap surface plasmons (GSPs) in the Ni grating are excited and couple with the guided modes inside the Ge grating. The coupled modes extend the perfect absorption band to the near-infrared region (150 nm–4200 nm). This design has potential application in photovoltaic devices and thermal emitters.