Liquid Phase Metamaterials

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Nanostructured materials allow for a control of the properties of light in a comprehensive way and entail the opportunity to devise completely new applications. Up to now, however, such materials are usually realized with established top-down nano-structuring methods. This allows for a rather comprehensive control over the geometry and the symmetries of the structure, but it also causes disadvantages. Most detrimental is the difficulty to provide truly bulk materials and to assure control over the exact nanoscopic details of the structure. In addition, the usually chosen periodic arrangement of identical unit cells is a drawback since it induces spatial dispersion. To solve these problems, bottom-up methods for the liquid phase chemical synthesis of nanostructured materials have been recently developed. This mitigates the aforementioned problems, but usually comes with the drawback that the geometry of the unit cells cannot be defined precisely, leading to an insufficient dispersion of the optical properties.In our project we want to solve this fundamental problem by combining top-down and bottom-up approaches, to obtain highly dispersive, isotropic photonic nanomaterials in solution. They will have properties not available with natural materials. We will achieve our challenging project goals by relying on top-down methods to create the unit cells of the eventual materials on large surfaces. They are afterwards removed from the surface and transferred into a liquid form. In this liquid phase, the identical elementary cells are amorphously arranged resulting in isotropic highly dispersive materials properties. These properties can be perfectly controlled by the identical and deterministic geometry of the highly resonant unit cells. In a further step, these liquid materials can also be transformed into an amorphous solid phase where they may entail further applications. Our ambitious project comprises the theoretical analysis and simulation of these amorphous materials which consist of highly complicated unit cells as well as their elaborate fabrication and experimental characterization in the near and far field. Altogether, this represents an enormous challenge for nowadays nanoscience which we will solve as a team.Based on this entirely new class of material, we will realize different applications. They will not just demonstrate the emerging material properties, but should be of direct benefit as well. Examples are printable optical components and immersion liquids with a high refractive index to significantly increase the resolution of optical microscopes. Furthermore, we envision fluids with zero electrical permittivity as a prerequisite for future applications. In addition to these immediate applications, the artificial liquids can also lead to completely new light controlled opto-fluidic applications. In our project, we want to develop the scientific bases needed to achieve these visionary goals in the future.