Revisiting the Optical Dispersion of Aluminum‐Doped Zinc Oxide: New Perspectives for Plasmonics and Metamaterials

Abstract

Due to the high rate of optical losses and the extensive usage of noble metals, alternative plasmonic materials with maximum tunability and low loss are desired for future plasmonic and metamaterial devices and applications. Herein, the potential of aluminum‐doped zinc oxide (AZO), one of the most prominent members of the transparent conducting oxide family, is demonstrated, for its applicability in plasmonic metamaterials. Using first‐principles density functional theory, combined with optical calculations, AZO‐based, plasmonic split‐ring resonators (SRRs) as model examples are showcased. The results match with experimental reports for the optical dielectric functions of pure and 2.08% Al‐doped zinc oxide (ZnO), if the Hubbard model to the local density approximation is applied. The broadband optical dispersion data for varying dopant concentrations (0%, 2.08%, and 6.25%) are extracted and provided. The subsequent optical response analyses show the existence of pronounced plasmons and inductor–capacitor modes in Al‐doped ZnO SRRs and an enhancement in metallic characteristics and plasmonic performance of AZO upon increasing Al concentration. The findings predict AZO as a low‐loss plasmonic material with promising capability for enhancing future optoelectronics applications. The method introduces a new, versatile approach to design future optical materials of arbitrary geometry.

Zirconium Nitride: Optical Properties of an Emerging Intermetallic for Plasmonic Applications

“…The procedure of extracting the DOS and the electric permittivity from DFT calculations is similar to the one recently demonstrated by the authors for aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), a member of the TCO family. [30] The chemical bonding in ZrN stems from the hybridization of N 2p with Zr 3 d electrons. Also, the conductivity feature of ZrN is due to the partially filled Zr 4 d state, which intersects the Fermi energy.…”

Spatial Dispersion in Hypercrystal Distributed Feedback Lasing

“…To obtain optical gain in such a medium, doping with various dye molecules, e.g., rhodamine or DCM, may be performed [ 42 , 43 ]. On the other hand, we consider the HMM medium to be formed with subsequent layers of zinc oxide (ZnO) and zinc oxide with 2.08% concentration of aluminum (AZO), which can be described with well-established dielectric functions [ 44 , 45 ]. To determine influence of the spatial dispersion on generation properties in such laser, the HMM structure is described with the use of local, i.e., , see Equations (1) and (2), and nonlocal effective medium approximations, i.e., , see Equations (7) and (9).…”

Surface Plasmons in Silicon Nanowires

“…We subsequently irradiated the structure by an incident unpolarized electromagnetic wave to excite the electronic transitions between orbitals, giving rise to the dielectric function imaginary part from the integral of momentum matrix elements between occupied and empty states around the Fermi level. [41,42] Finally, we deduced the dielectric function real part via the Kramers-Kronig relations. [43,44] Figure 3 shows the resulting complex dielectric function and complex refractive indices for energies between 0.1 and 15 eV.…”