Highly switchable absorption in a metal hydride device using a near-zero-index substrate.

Optical switchability is an important functionality for photonic devices, which allows them to accommodate a wide range of applications. One way to achieve this switchability is to utilize the reversible and tunable optical changes of metal hydrides. When exposed to H gas, certain metals go through dramatic changes in optical properties as hydrogen atoms expand the lattice spacing. In this paper, we propose a switchable absorption device consisting of a Pd-capped Mg thin film deposited onto a near-zero-index substrate. By utilizing Mg's extreme optical changes upon hydrogenation and combining it with the high optical contrast of the near-zero-index substrate, we can create a device that is fully switchable from a highly reflective state to a broadband absorbing state. When modeling the substrate as a Drude material with a plasma wavelength of 600 nm, we calculate an absorption change of > 70% from 650-1230 nm, with a peak total absorption of 78% at 905 nm. We experimentally demonstrate this effect using 25 nm of Mg with a 3 nm Pd capping layer deposited onto an ITO-coated glass substrate. This device achieves an absorption change of 76% at 1335 nm illumination, with a maximum absorption of 93% in the hydride state, utilizing ITO's near-zero-index region in the near-infrared. By tuning the near-zero-index region of the substrate, this effect can be extended from the visible through the infrared.