Single-step approach to constructing electromagnetic metamaterials uses tiny self-assembled pillars in composite films

Super-sharp images and biological sensors require

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altering how materials react with light. Materials created by the new approach provide an exciting option. Scientists can now control and enhance the optical response by controlling material properties at nanometer scale. Such materials open unprecedented possibilities for developing light-interactive photonic devices for cloaking and super-resolution imaging.

Scientists demonstrated a self-assembly approach to fabricating nanoscale metamaterials that are built on vertically aligned conducting metallic gold nanopillars embedded in oxide such as barium titanium oxide matrices using a one-step deposition method. Such nanocomposites permit the control of the density, size, and alignment of metallic gold nanopillars. In other words, the key feature of such nanocomposite thin films is their anisotropic and largely tunable optical properties due to the controllable microstructures of the composite.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-05-single-step-approach-electromagnetic-metamaterials-tiny.html#jCp