Anomalously Weak Scattering in Metal-Semiconductor Multilayer Hyperbolic Metamaterials

Abstract

In contrast to strong plasmonic scattering from metal particles or structures in metal films, we show that patterns of arbitrary shape fabricated out of multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials become invisible within a chosen band of optical frequencies. This is due to anomalously weak scattering when the in-plane permittivity of the multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials is tuned to match with the surrounding medium. This new phenomenon is described theoretically and demonstrated experimentally by optical characterization of various patterns in Au-Si multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials. This anomalously weak scattering is insensitive to pattern sizes, shapes, and incident angles, and has potential applications in scattering cross-section engineering, optical encryption, low-observable conductive probes, and optoelectric devices.