Computational and experimental verification of a wide-angle metamaterial absorber

A metamaterial absorber is computed numerically and measured experimentally in a 150-THz~300-THz range. The measured absorber achieves high absorption rate for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations at large angles of incidence. An absorption sensor scheme is proposed based on the measured absorber and the variations of surrounding media. Different surrounding media are applied to the surface of the absorption sensor (including air, water, and glucose solution). Measured results show that high figure of merit (FOM) values are obtained for different surrounding media. The proposed sensor does not depend on the substrate, which means that it can be transplanted to different sensing platforms conveniently.