Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) and Norfolk State University have discovered a way to prevent loss of light as it passes through metamaterials, thus opening the door to many important new optical, electronic, and communication technologies. Photonic metamaterials are engineered composite materials with unique electromagnetic properties and have attracted significant research interest in recent years because of their ability to create “negative index” materials that bend light the opposite way of anything found in nature. Until now their performance had been significantly limited as the metals included in their composition might absorb more than 50 percent of the light. The solution to the problem is to offset this loss of light by adding an optical “gain” to a dielectric adjacent to the metal. According to Norfolk State University Prof. Mikhail Noginov, “This is a significant breakthrough. Many of the possible applications of these materials have been largely prevented by the obstacle of the absorption loss. That’s a big problem that we should now be able to work past.”Find the original press release on the OSU website.
Oregon State Researchers Announce Breakthrough in Metamaterial Research
