Carbon nanotubes: Numerical simulation of absorbing properties in visible and infrared regime

The recently reported experiments showed that a low-density array of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes behaves like a near-perfect absorber at visible wavelengths. Further measurements confirmed the anti-reflective properties of this structure in the infrared band. The results of numerical simulations reported to date showed the absorbing behaviour of the nanotube films in the visible regime. This paper presents the results of full-wave electromagnetic simulations of carbon nanotube absorbers at infrared wavelengths and at the macrostructure level.