Novel Two Phase Vertically Aligned Nanocomposites Beyond Oxides

非技术描述：超材料是由纳米级夹杂物制成的混合材料，可以表现出奇异的光学响应，并使其具有潜在的应用前景，如超级透镜、光学传感器和亚波长成像。到目前为止，大多数超材料都是使用昂贵而繁琐的光刻和制造技术来制造的，并且涉及具有高损耗和高加热的有损金属材料。利用PI团队在加工垂直排列纳米复合材料(VAN)形式的自组装纳米氧化物和氧化物-金属杂化薄膜方面的专业知识，该项目开发了一种新型的全陶瓷相杂化材料，即氧化物-氮化物VAN，以满足具有低损耗和宽波长工作范围的光学超材料的迫切需求。教育和外联活动与研究相结合，包括1)让本科生参与研究；2)在普渡大学和国家实验室对学生进行多学科研究培训；以及3)通过以下方式向广大受众传播研究成果：(A)让材料科学和工程领域中代表性较低的群体参与，(B)通过实验室演示、在科学节和材料艺术馆的讲座吸引高中生学习材料科学，(C)为研究小组网站开发网络工具并将其纳入NanoHUB。TECHNICAL详细信息：该项目重点是无金属杂化超材料的设计、合成和表征。该项目的目标是获得具有可调物理性能，特别是光、磁和磁光耦合性能的全陶瓷杂化超材料。具体任务包括：(1)探索氧化物-氮化物混合面包车的平面内自发有序；(2)实现对具有高度性能可调的可设计混合材料的纳米管柱几何控制；以及(3)通过面包车的多层堆叠来瞄准前所未有的3D混合材料设计。除了为全陶瓷混杂超材料开发的基本设计准则和形态控制方法外，这项研究还提供了几个技术影响：(1)无金属混杂超材料设计对于要求低损耗、高热稳定性、化学惰性和多功能的广泛光学应用至关重要；(2)新型混杂超材料可应用于经典光学互连、光波导、集成光子学和全芯片光学电路；以及(3)磁性混合超材料可用于高密度磁数据存储、磁性传感器和自旋电子学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Metamaterials, hybrid materials made of nanoscale inclusions, can exhibit exotic optical responses, and enable promising applications such as super lenses, optical sensors, and subwavelength imaging. To date, most metamaterials are created using costly and tedious lithography and fabrication techniques, and involve lossy metallic materials with high dissipative losses and heating. Leveraging the expertise in the PI’s group in processing self-assembled, nanoscale oxide-oxide and oxide-metal hybrid thin films in a vertically aligned nanocomposite (VAN) form, the project develops a new class of novel hybrid materials with all ceramic phases, i.e., oxide-nitride VANs, to address the urgent needs of optical metamaterials with low dissipative losses and operating over a broad wavelength range. The education and outreach activities are integrated with the research, including 1) engaging undergraduates in research; 2) multidisciplinary research training for students at both Purdue and national labs; and 3) disseminating research findings to broad audiences by (a) involving underrepresented groups in materials science and engineering, (b) attracting high school students into materials science through laboratory demonstrations, lectures at science festivals and materials art galleries, (c) developing web-based tools for research group websites and inclusion in NanoHUB.TECHNICAL DETAILS: This project focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of metal-free hybrid metamaterials in the VAN thin film form. The goal of the project is to achieve all-ceramic hybrid metamaterials with tunable physical properties, especially optical, magnetic and magneto-optical coupling properties. The specific tasks include: (1) exploring in-plane spontaneous ordering of oxide-nitride hybrid VANs; (2) enabling nanopillar geometry control towards designable hybrid materials with high degree of property tunability; and (3) targeting unprecedented 3D hybrid material designs via multilayer stacking of the VANs. Besides the fundamental design criteria and morphology control approaches developed for the all ceramic hybrid metamaterials, the research offers several technological impacts: (1) metal-free hybrid metamaterial designs are critical for a wide range of optical applications requiring low dissipation losses, high thermal stability, chemical inertness, and multifunctionality; (2) novel hybrid metamaterials may find applications as classical optical interconnects, waveguides, integrated photonics, and all-on-chip optical circuits; and (3) magnetic hybrid metamaterials may be used in high density magnetic data storage, magnetic sensors, and spintronics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.