METAFLEX - Metamaterials on Flexible optically transparent substrate

METAFLEX - 柔性光学透明基板上的超材料

• 批准号: EP/I004602/1
• 负责人: Andrea Di Falco
• 金额: $ 86.01万
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2010 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FI004602%2F1
• 关键词: METAFLEX; Metamaterials; Flexible; optically; transparent

Metamaterials (MMs) are man made materials with unusual electromagnetic properties that are not typically found in Nature. They are the key to achieving such extraordinary properties as invisibility cloaks and perfect lenses. At present, they are bulky and confined to laboratories. If they were flexible, they could become much more versatile and practical. Here, I propose a novel concept for flexible MMs that will turn current cloaking devices from suits of armour into true cloaks.The concept of index of refraction underpins the physics of MMs, which can be illustrated with an example. The direction that light takes when it crosses the interface between two media depends on its initial direction with respect to the surface and on the refractive indices of the media. This is the reason why a pencil appears to kink when immersed in water. In nature, all transparent materials have a positive refractive index, like water. As a result, the image of the pencil always kinks in the same direction. Conversely, MM are manufactured with a negative refractive index, thus in a MM the kink of the pencil would appear in the opposite direction. This effect, which may seem to be a mere curiosity, drives the extraordinary behavior of MMs.The technological requirements of currently fabricated optical MMs impose a flat rigid geometry. This impedes the realistic implementations of an optical cloak made of soft fabric, for example. I aim to overcome such limits.The aim of this project is to fabricate MMs in flexible, extremely thin membranes (METAFLEX).Metaflex will retain all the power of material design typical of MMs and their ability to control light, in a more flexible framework. I have already achieved the first milestone of the project and printed MMs on polymer flexible membranes with thickness down to few nanometers.The physics of Metaflex is a rich and unexplored field of research. This ambitious project is structured around their most striking properties:-Metaflex can be wrapped around objects and stacked, a vital step to realistic cloaking applications.-Metaflex stacks can be easily fine tuned after fabrication, e.g. via deformation, hence light can be controlled with additional degrees of freedom. The flexibility of Metaflex permits the design and fabrication of a camouflaging system, as the material response can sense and adapt to the surrounding environment. This offers a remarkable example of smart fabrics and intelligent textiles, currently a thriving area of research in academia and industry.-Metaflex provide a new framework to study the interaction between optical and mechanical forces, as in Optical Trapping or the new field of Optomechanics. Potential applications include very small optical microphones.-Metaflex are very light. They could take advantage of the attractive and repulsive forces triggered by optical beams in order to levitate and behave as nano-flying carpets. This would be a breakthrough in biomedical nano-applications such as drug-delivery and single molecules manipulation.My interest in Metaflex arises from diverse theoretical and experimental projects in photonic structures and nanofabrication and from the knowledge gained throughout these projects, including the physics and applications of MMs. This project contains many exciting scientific challenges, which offer the possibility of developing the extraordinary properties of MMs for every-day life applications that were unimaginable only a few years ago.

超材料（Metamaterials）是一种人造材料，具有不寻常的电磁特性，通常在自然界中找不到。它们是实现隐形斗篷和完美镜片等非凡特性的关键。目前，它们体积庞大，仅限于实验室。如果它们是灵活的，它们可以变得更加通用和实用。在这里，我提出了一个新的概念，柔性隐身衣，将目前的隐身设备从盔甲变成真正的斗篷。折射率的概念支撑着隐身衣的物理学，这可以用一个例子来说明。当光穿过两种介质之间的界面时，它所采取的方向取决于它相对于表面的初始方向和介质的折射率。这就是为什么铅笔在浸入水中时会出现扭结的原因。在自然界中，所有透明材料都具有正折射率，如水。因此，铅笔的图像总是在同一方向上扭结。相反，MM是用负折射率制造的，因此在MM中，铅笔的扭结将出现在相反的方向上。这种效应，这似乎是一个纯粹的好奇心，驱动器的非凡行为的光学薄膜。目前制造的光学薄膜的技术要求强加了一个平面刚性的几何形状。例如，这阻碍了由软织物制成的光学斗篷的现实实现。我的目标是克服这些限制。这个项目的目的是制造柔性的极薄薄膜（METAFLEX）。Metaflex将保留所有的材料设计的典型功能和他们的控制光的能力，在一个更灵活的框架。我已经实现了该项目的第一个里程碑，并在厚度低至几纳米的聚合物柔性膜上打印了Metaflex。Metaflex的物理学是一个丰富而未探索的研究领域。这个雄心勃勃的项目是围绕其最引人注目的特性构建的：-Metaflex可以包裹在对象周围并堆叠，这是实现真实伪装应用程序的重要一步。Metaflex堆叠可以在制造后容易地进行微调，例如通过变形，因此可以以额外的自由度控制光。Metaflex的灵活性允许设计和制造包装系统，因为材料响应可以感知和适应周围环境。这为智能织物和智能纺织品提供了一个显着的例子，目前这是学术界和工业界蓬勃发展的研究领域。Metaflex提供了一个新的框架来研究光学和机械力之间的相互作用，如光学陷阱或光学力学的新领域。潜在的应用包括非常小的光学麦克风。Metaflex非常轻。它们可以利用由光束引发的吸引力和排斥力来悬浮，表现得像纳米飞毯。我对Metaflex的兴趣来自于光子结构和纳米纤维的各种理论和实验项目，以及在这些项目中获得的知识，包括光子晶体的物理和应用。该项目包含许多令人兴奋的科学挑战，为开发用于日常生活应用的纳米材料的非凡性能提供了可能性，这在几年前是不可想象的。

项目成果

Propagation Losses of Slotted Photonic Crystal Waveguides

• DOI: 10.1109/jphot.2012.2211342
• 发表时间: 2012-10-01
• 期刊: IEEE PHOTONICS JOURNAL
• 影响因子: 2.4
• 作者: Di Falco, A.;Massari, M.;Krauss, T. F.
• 通讯作者: Krauss, T. F.

Chiral plasmonic nanostructures: Twisted by DNA.

• DOI: 10.1038/nmat4068
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Nature materials
• 影响因子: 41.2
• 作者: A. Di Falco

Enhanced nonlinear effects in pulse propagation through epsilon-near-zero media

• DOI: 10.1002/lpor.201500326
• 发表时间: 2016-05-01
• 期刊: LASER & PHOTONICS REVIEWS
• 影响因子: 11
• 作者: Ciattoni, Alessandro;Rizza, Carlo;Scalora, Michael
• 通讯作者: Scalora, Michael