Inverse design of metamaterial for dual-band infrared camouflage along with dual-band thermal management

The optical metamaterial for infrared camouflage with thermal management is an artificial structure available to not only evade the detection of various thermal imagers operating in distinct infrared wavebands but also ensure the thermal stability of the target. However, designing such an optical metamaterial is challenging due to the necessity to optimize numerous structural parameters simultaneously, especially metamaterials that are compatible with multiple functions. Herein, this paper proposes a novel inverse design method, combining African vultures optimization algorithm (AVOA) with rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA), to design an optical metamaterial capable of achieving infrared camouflage and thermal management compatibly. The proposed metamaterial enables dual-band infrared camouflage for mid-wave infrared (MWIR, 3–5 μm) and long-wave infrared (LWIR, 8–14 μm), along with thermal management through dual-band non-atmospheric windows of 5–8 μm and 14–17 μm. Comparing to other intelligent optimization algorithms, the AVOA is exceptionally efficient, which only takes less time than others to get better results. This work not only provides theoretical guidance to design an optical metamaterial for infrared camouflage with thermal management, but also has the potential to solve the multi-objective optimization problems of multi-band or wide-band radiative modulation.