By exploiting the guided resonance of a photonic hypercrystal—a periodic structure that combines the properties of hyperbolic materials and photonic crystals—we numerically demonstrate a perfect absorber consisting of a photonic hypercrystal slab, a dielectric spacer, and a back reflector. The guided resonance of the photonic hypercrystal slab creates a field enhancement and confinement within a deep subwavelength thickness; therefore, the ultrathin photonic hypercrystal slab serves as a two-dimensional resonator that can be treated accurately as a metasurface. We show that the perfect absorber is equivalent to a metasurface Salisbury screen, where the metasurface formed by the photonic hypercrystal slab provides the appropriate electric sheet conductivity required for critical coupling. We also present examples of combining the perfect absorber with graphene to make optical modulators and to improve the absorption in graphene photodetectors.

• Received 7 July 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.94.155430