Features of reflection of electromagnetic waves from nanometric perforated multilayers including epsilon-near-zero metamaterials

Abstract

Using the exact solutions of electromagnetic boundary problems, analytical modeling of reflection of electromagnetic waves from nanometric perforated multilayers has been carried out. New features of operation of the multilayers including the substrate or layers of epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) materials are established. Presence of the ENZ main layer or substrate leads to the quickly changing and extreme values of phase and module of amplitude reflection coefficients depending on the system parameters. The ENZ (or metallic for the thicker systems) substrate has a significant impact on the transformation of phase difference of the reflected waves. The detailed numerical analysis of the obtained results for the multilayers including silver or phase change materials (germanium antimony tellurium alloy, vanadium dioxide) components is performed. The considered reflection characteristics are reasonably “stable” to variation of the system parameters such as oblique incidence of the exciting radiation (for TE or TM polarization), possible presence of magnetic properties of the layers and effective electromagnetic anisotropy of the substrate material. The obtained results can be used to develop ultra-thin (with significantly subwavelength thicknesses) transformers of phase and amplitude of reflected radiation, holograms, metasurfaces and other nanophotonics applications.