| Abstract: | A wavelength-tunable, depletion-type infrared metamaterial optical device
is provided. The device includes a thin, highly doped epilayer whose
electrical permittivity can become negative at some infrared wavelengths.
This highly-doped buried layer optically couples with a metamaterial
layer. Changes in the transmission spectrum of the device can be induced
via the electrical control of this optical coupling. An embodiment
includes a contact layer of semiconductor material that is sufficiently
doped for operation as a contact layer and that is effectively
transparent to an operating range of infrared wavelengths, a thin, highly
doped buried layer of epitaxially grown semiconductor material that
overlies the contact layer, and a metallized layer overlying the buried
layer and patterned as a resonant metamaterial. |