Metal-based rugate filters with strong visible and near-infrared reflectivity

Metallic rugate filters are theoretically investigated for the first time. Our model builds on randomly dispersed metallic nanorod arrays with sinusoidally varying porosities along the film thickness. It was found that metallic rugate filters can display strong optical response in the visible and near-infrared regions for both TE and TM polarizations and for a wide range of incident angles. Moreover, the optical features of a metallic rugate filter can be fine tuned by adjusting its structural features. Interestingly, multiple-peak rugate filters can be conveniently achieved by combining different periodicities in one rugate structure. The interesting optical behaviors of the novel metal-based reflectors, combined with the many desirable properties of metals (e.g. electric, thermal, magnetic, mechanical, and chemical properties) are bound to lead to various multi-functional optical devices. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.