EAGER: Absorption engineering of optical and thermal hyperbolic metafilm patterns

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The objective of this research is to explore ultra-broadband on-chip light trapping mechanisms for efficient photon/thermal management, energy harvesting and enhanced heat-to-photon conversion. The promising applications enabled by this work could have enormous long-term impact on our national energy, environmental and sustainability needs. Integrating research with education is a high priority in this interdisciplinary effort, which links nanotechnology, computational electromagnetics, optoelectronics, electrical engineering, and energy research. This program will deliver state-of-the-art nanophotonic technologies to students, and instill in them the skills, values, and broad perspectives necessary for success in the global market place, for leadership in complex, multidisciplinary projects, and for a lifetime of continued learning. The approach is to develop a patterned hyperbolic meta-film that can efficiently absorb broadband electromagnetic waves. Large area multi-layered metal-dielectric films will be investigated to develop a planar thin-film absorber with tunable absorption profile from optical to thermal domain, which will create new regimes of optical/thermal physics and applications. The proposed large area patterned hyperbolic meta-film would represent a major breakthrough in our understanding of absorption/emission engineering of slow-light chips, and holds promise for developing novel applications for energy conversion and thermal management devices. This very high-index effective medium holds much more density of states than low-index media and therefore has greater potential for efficient heat-to-photon conversion, which, unfortunately, is NOT naturally available. Therefore, being able to create a high index metamaterial will provide a technological foundation that will revolutionize a variety of photonic/thermal applications.