Tunable infrared pixels having unpatterned graphene layer and conductive metasurface
| DWPI Title: Tunable infrared pixel (TIP) via dynamic metasurface has top dielectric layer on which metasurface is arranged and patterned to excite plasmon within unpatterned graphene layer and adapted to apply voltage bias to unpatterned graphene layer |
| Abstract: A monolithically integrated, tunable infrared pixel comprises a combined broadband detector and graphene-enabled tunable metasurface filter that operate as a single solid-state device with no moving parts. Functionally, tunability results from the plasmonic properties of graphene that are acutely dependent upon the carrier concentration within the infrared. Voltage induced changes in graphene's carrier concentration can be leveraged to change the metasurface filter's transmission thereby altering the “colors” of light reaching the broadband detector and hence its spectral responsivity. The invention enables spectrally agile infrared detection with independent pixel-to-pixel spectral tunability. |
| Use: TIP such as monolithically integrated TIP via dynamic metasurfaces. |
| Advantage: While graphene is only one atom thick, its interaction with infrared light is enhanced by plasmonic excitation enabling graphene to significantly influence the optical response of the TIP. The presence of the capping top dielectric helps to ensure the long term stability of the underlying graphene by isolating it from the environment, thus preventing accumulation of adsorbates on the graphene over time. The top dielectric layer provides a spacer layer to prevent contact between graphene and the conductive metasurface. The tunable architecture is easily applied atop a mercury-cadmium-telluride (MCT) photodetector which provides a significant increase in quantum efficiency over that of the gallium-free type-ii superlattice (T2SL) detector. The TIP device provides additional functionality with minimal additional power consumption. The monolithic approach increases functionality while maintaining the standard lamellar architecture of semiconductor devices without appreciably increasing the size or power consumption of the detector. |
| Novelty: The TIP has an infrared detector and a bottom dielectric layer (a) that is arranged on the infrared detector. An unpatterned graphene layer is arranged on the bottom dielectric layer. A top dielectric layer (b) is arranged on the unpatterned graphene layer. A conductive metasurface (c) is arranged on the top dielectric layer. The metasurface is patterned to excite plasmons within the unpatterned graphene layer and the metasurface is adapted to apply a voltage bias to the unpatterned graphene layer, thus changing the fermi level of a graphene (d) and tuning the resonance response of the pixel to incident infrared light (e). |
| Filed: 7/16/2020 |
| Application Number: US16930520A |
| Tech ID: SD 14889.1 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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