Switchable ultra-broadband terahertz wave absorption with VO2-based metasurface

Metamaterial absorbers (MMAs) offer a novel and flexible method to realize perfect absorption in specific frequencies, especially in the THz range. Despite the exotic abilities to manipulate light, most previously reported MMAs still suffer from limited bandwidth and tunability. Here we present a thermally switchable terahertz (THz) metasurface that exhibits ultra-broadband absorption and high-transmission characteristics at different ambient temperatures. Our simulations demonstrate that at room temperature the structure is highly transparent. When the ambient temperature reaches 358 K, the proposed design exhibits an ultra-broadband absorption from 0.398 to 1.356 THz with the absorptivity maintaining above 90% and the relative absorption bandwidth reaches up to 109.2%. The structure is demonstrated to be insensitive to the incident angle. Moreover, the bandwidth of such a structure can easily be expanded or reduced by cascading or removing the rings, providing high scalability in practical applications. Such a thermally switchable THz metasurface may have potential applications in various fields, such as optical switching, THz imaging, modulating and filtering.