Thermally Robust and Optically Transparent Infrared Selective Emitter for Compatible Camouflage

Infrared selective emitter (ISE) captures growing attention of researchers due to its specific functionality of tuning infrared radiance to camouflage object into the background, which provides an efficient access to improve the infrared camouflage performance (CP). However, general ISEs with in-plane structures are not suitable for fabricating on a large scale or compatible with visible band. In this study, thermally robust and optically transparent ISEs based on ITO/ZnS four-layer composite films are proposed and verified experimentally. Lossy layer of semi-transmissive ITO film and top layer of anti-reflective ZnS film are found to be primarily responsible for tuning the performance of selective emission. For the first time, an ISE exhibiting superior selective emission properties in dual undetected bands of 2.5~3 μm and 5~8 μm is proposed, which simultaneously possesses high transmittance in visible band. Moreover, these infrared-visible properties of the composite films are thermally stable and robust from room temperature to 700 K, presenting suitability for scalable manufacturing and long-time service. This work would greatly improve the engineered application of selective emitters with large-scale fabricating in infrared-visible compatible camouflage.