A team of scientists from Boston College (BC) and Duke University has developed a highly engineered metametal capable of absorbing all the light that strikes it—to a scientific standard of perfection—they report in Physical Review Letters. The newly developed metametal uses tiny geometric surface features and successfully captures the electric and magnetic properties of a microwave to the point of total absorption. The new material has been engineered to ensure that all light is neither reflected nor transmitted but is turned completely into heat and absorbed. A metametal can be designed so that at a specific frequency, it can absorb all of the photons that fall onto its surface. The research team included Boston College physicist Willie J. Padilla, (at left) BC researcher Nathan I. Landy, and Duke University professor David R. Smith, and researchers Soji Sajuyigbe, and Jack J. Mock. The group used computer simulations based on prior research findings in the field to design resonators able to couple individually to electric and magnetic fields, successfully absorbing all incident radiation. Learn more, and find a link to the entire article at the BCwebsite.
New Metametal Absorbs All the Electronic and Magnetic Components of an EM Wave
