Novel Two Phase Vertically Aligned Nanocomposites Beyond Oxides

非技术描述：超材料，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，并使有前途的应用，如超级透镜，光学传感器和亚波长成像。迄今为止，大多数超材料都是使用昂贵且繁琐的光刻和制造技术制造的，并且涉及具有高耗散损耗和加热的有损金属材料。利用PI团队在处理垂直排列纳米复合材料（VAN）形式的自组装纳米级氧化物-氧化物和氧化物-金属杂化薄膜方面的专业知识，该项目开发了一类具有所有陶瓷相的新型杂化材料，即氧化氮化VANs，以解决低耗散损耗和宽波长范围内工作的光学超材料的迫切需求。教育和推广活动与研究相结合，包括：1)让本科生参与研究；2)普渡大学和国家实验室对学生进行多学科研究培训；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代表性不足的群体参与进来；(b)通过实验室演示、科学节和材料艺术画廊的讲座吸引高中生进入材料科学领域；(c)为研究小组网站开发基于网络的工具，并将其纳入NanoHUB。技术细节：本项目侧重于VAN薄膜形式的无金属杂化超材料的设计、合成和表征。该项目的目标是实现具有可调谐物理特性的全陶瓷杂化超材料，特别是光学、磁性和磁光耦合特性。具体任务包括：(1)探索氧化氮混合VANs的平面内自发有序；(2)实现纳米柱几何形状控制，使可设计的杂化材料具有高度的性能可调性；(3)通过VANs的多层堆叠实现前所未有的3D混合材料设计。除了为所有陶瓷杂化超材料开发的基本设计标准和形态控制方法外，该研究还提供了几个技术影响：(1)无金属杂化超材料的设计对于需要低耗散损耗、高热稳定性、化学惰性和多功能性的广泛光学应用至关重要；(2)新型混合超材料可应用于经典光学互连、波导、集成光子学和全片光学电路；(3)磁杂化超材料可用于高密度磁数据存储、磁传感器和自旋电子学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.