Transparent Metamaterials for Multispectral Camouflage with Thermal Management

Artificial camouflage surfaces, such as metamaterials, that interact with the electromagnetic (EM) wave represent an emerging field in which performance breakthroughs are occurring. In particular, the visible and infrared (IR) waves are of interest, because these waves are desirable for energy, military and space applications. However, needs of additional actuations, eccentric properties for a specific situation and complicated fabrications, with only a few reports to date, show that multispectral (visible and IR) camouflage surfaces are still challenging issues. Herein, we realize transparent metamaterials (TMM) as visible-IR camouflage surfaces. TMM achieves an average transmissivity of 0.44 in the visible regime. It also reduces the blackbody IR signature by 64% over 3-5 μm and 75% over 8-14 μm and dissipates 2200% more energy in the undetected band of 5-8 μm compared to an Au surface used for IR camouflage. These findings advance multispectral manipulation and expand energy applications in visible-IR waves.