We demonstrate a selectively emitting optical Fabry-P\'erot resonator based on a few-nm-thin continuous metallic titanium nitride film, separated by a dielectric spacer from an optically thick titanium nitride back-reflector, which exhibits excellent stability at 1070 K against chemical degradation, thin-film instabilities and melting point depression. The structure paves the way to the design and fabrication of refractory thermal emitters using the well-established processes known from the field of multilayer and rugate optical filters. We demonstrate that a few-nanometer thick films of titanium nitride can be stable under operation at temperatures exceeding 1070 K. This type of selective emitter provides a means towards near-infrared thermal emission that could potentially be tailored to the accuracy level known from rugate optical filters.
@article{arxiv.1810.12131,
title = {Ultra-thin titanium nitride films for refractory spectral selectivity},
author = {Alexander S. Roberts and Manohar Chirumamilla and Deyong Wang and Liqiong An and Kjeld Pedersen and N. Asger Mortensen and Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.12131},
year = {2018}
}