Study on Nano-plasmonics to Improve the Efficiency of Photon Absorption in Metamaterials

Metamaterials are engineered for next-generation optical devices such as solar cell units with improved electromagnetic responses. This project presents a study of photonics using surface plasmon polariton(SPP) in the nano-scaled metamaterial units consisting of layers with metals and dielectric nonmetal compounds. The objective of this research is to see whether the proposed composite structures display the SPP phenomenon efficiently by capturing photons of various wavelengths. Both theoretical calculation and computer simulations are employed to find the optimum incident angle to maximize the absorption of the light energy. The SPP effect was observed while changing the optical variables and geometrical conditions to find electric fields and optimum angles in the nano-scaled composite materials. The hyperbolic shape of SPP is also analyzed and compared with a nano multilayered structure called Hyperbolic Meta-Materials (HMM).

The optimal incident angle of the various lightwaves and the effective index of refraction were calculated using Maxwell's equations, followed by dispersion relation and modeling various metamaterials. Depending on using single-period and multi-period materials, the propagating waves of light in the metamaterials showed in an unconventional manner, such as Hyperbolic dispersion, which is anisotropic propagation.