Polarization-independent ultranarrow ultraviolet graphene perfect absorption for temperature controlled high-performance optical switch

Abstract

We demonstrate a tunable polarization-independent ultranarrow perfect absorption (PA) in a hybrid metasurface consisting of graphene-dielectric nanodisk-metal mirror in the ultraviolet (UV) range. Through near-field interactions between the optical dissipation of graphene and surface plasmon polaritons supported by Al₂O₃ nanodisk array on UV mirror, the UV Fano-like absorption peak can reach 99.92 % with linewidth as low as 3.4 nm, which is predicted by the impedance matching theory and a Fano model. Furthermore, a dynamic tuning of the UV PA and the associated high-performance optical switch are achieved via temperature change of the encapsulated ethanol. Importantly, the modulation depth of almost 100 %, the ultralarge modulation intensity of about 2.5 × 10⁶ and the on/off ratio of 63 dB are reached for the graphene-based switch by a thermal control. Our work holds potential applications on the UV graphene based light modulators such as high-precision optical switch and nanodevices.