Abstract
We develop a model to describe the optical properties of periodic surpentine structures in the metamaterial regime. The structures are essentially transparent to infrared radiation and would be useful for transparent electrodes. The model predictions for the absorptance and the reflectance of the serpentine structures show a good agreement with numerical calculations of Maxwell’s equations. Our model reveals that the absorptance of the serpentine structures is determined by the self-inductance and the reflectance is affected by both the self-inductance and the effective conductivity. The effective conductivity is shown to be a dominant effect to reduce reflection.
Highlights
The optical properties of metals are quite different from other materials because of the free electrons
In an effort to reduce optical losses in nanostured metals, we investigated metallic serpentine structures in metamaterial regime and observed that absorption and reflection losses were greatly reduced compared to one- and two-dimensional gratings at the same metal area coverage.[9]
(−1)n+1 n=1 ln Because the structure is electrically conductive in the y direction, the optical losses are typically larger for y-polarized light than for the other polarization and we focus on the y-polarization response
Summary
The optical properties of metals are quite different from other materials because of the free electrons. In an effort to reduce optical losses in nanostured metals, we investigated metallic serpentine structures in metamaterial regime and observed that absorption and reflection losses were greatly reduced compared to one- and two-dimensional gratings at the same metal area coverage.[9] One of our major findings was that the optical losses of the serpentine structures were less than 7% even at a large metal area fraction of 0.3. Because these structures are highly transparent while electrically conductive, they would be potentially useful for transparent electrodes. The effective conductivity plays a dominant role in decreasing reflection while the self-inductance effect of the serpentine structures is relatively small
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