Wire Metamaterials: Physics and Applications

The physics and applications of a broad class of artificial electromagnetic materials composed of lattices of aligned metal rods embedded in a dielectric matrix are reviewed. Such structures are here termed wire metamaterials. They appear in various settings and can operate from microwaves to THz and optical frequencies. An important group of these metamaterials is a wire medium possessing extreme optical anisotropy. The study of wire metamaterials has a long history, however, most of their important and useful properties have been revealed and understood only recently, especially in the THz and optical frequency ranges where the wire media correspond to the lattices of microwires and nanowires, respectively. Another group of wire metamaterials are arrays and lattices of nanorods of noble metals whose unusual properties are driven by plasmonic resonances.     

Metasurfaces Atop Metamaterials: Surface Morphology Induces Linear Dichroism in Gyroid Optical Metamaterials

Optical metamaterials offer the tantalizing possibility of creating extraordinary optical properties through the careful design and arrangement of subwavelength structural units. Gyroid‐structured optical metamaterials possess a chiral, cubic, and triply periodic bulk morphology that exhibits a redshifted effective plasma frequency. They also exhibit a strong linear dichroism, the origin of which is not yet understood. Here, the interaction of light with gold gyroid optical metamaterials is studied and a strong correlation between the surface morphology and its linear dichroism is found. The termination of the gyroid surface breaks the cubic symmetry of the bulk lattice and gives rise to the observed wavelength‐ and polarization‐dependent reflection. The results show that light couples into both localized and propagating plasmon modes associated with anisotropic surface protrusions and the gaps between such protrusions. The localized surface modes give rise to the anisotropic optical response, creating the linear dichroism. Simulated reflection spectra are highly sensitive to minute details of these surface terminations, down to the nanometer level, and can be understood with analogy to the optical properties of a 2D anisotropic metasurface atop a 3D isotropic metamaterial. This pronounced sensitivity to the subwavelength surface morphology has significant consequences for both the design and application of optical metamaterials.     

Nanoporous Plasmonic Metamaterials

We review different routes for the generation of nanoporous metallic foams and films exhibiting well‐defined pore size and short‐range order. Dealloying and templating allows the generation of both 2D and 3D structures that promise a plasmonic response determined by material constituents and porosity. Viewed in the context of metamaterials, the ease of fabrication of samples covering macroscopic dimensions is highly promising, and suggests more in‐depth investigations of the plasmonic and photonic properties of this material system for photonic applications.     

Magnetoactive Acoustic Metamaterials

Acoustic metamaterials with negative constitutive parameters (modulus and/or mass density) have shown great potential in diverse applications ranging from sonic cloaking, abnormal refraction and superlensing, to noise canceling. In conventional acoustic metamaterials, the negative constitutive parameters are engineered via tailored structures with fixed geometries; therefore, the relationships between constitutive parameters and acoustic frequencies are typically fixed to form a 2D phase space once the structures are fabricated. Here, by means of a model system of magnetoactive lattice structures, stimuli‐responsive acoustic metamaterials are demonstrated to be able to extend the 2D phase space to 3D through rapidly and repeatedly switching signs of constitutive parameters with remote magnetic fields. It is shown for the first time that effective modulus can be reversibly switched between positive and negative within controlled frequency regimes through lattice buckling modulated by theoretically predicted magnetic fields. The magnetically triggered negative‐modulus and cavity‐induced negative density are integrated to achieve flexible switching between single‐negative and double‐negative. This strategy opens promising avenues for remote, rapid, and reversible modulation of acoustic transportation, refraction, imaging, and focusing in subwavelength regimes.     

深度学习赋能微纳光子学材料设计研究进展

光子学结构设计是微纳光学器件和系统研究的核心。许多人工设计的光子学结构,比如超材料、光子晶体、等离激元纳米结构等,已经在高速可视通信、高灵敏度传感和高效能源收集及转换中得到了广泛的应用。然而,该领域中通用的设计方法是基于简化的物理解析模型及基于规则的数值模拟方法,属于反复试错的方法,效率低且很可能会错过最佳的设计参数。因此,快速得到设计参数和光谱响应信息之间的潜在关联性,是实现光子学器件高效设计的关键。在过去的几年里,深度学习在语言识别、机器视觉、自然语言处理等领域发展迅速。深度学习的独特优势在于其数据驱动的方法,可以让模型从海量数据中自动发现有用的信息,这为解决上述光子学结构设计问题提供了一种全新的方法。本篇综述从不同的微纳光子学结构设计的应用场景出发,介绍了不同的深度学习模型在光子学设计领域中的适用范围和选择依据,并对该领域未来的机遇与挑战进行了总结与展望。

     

Intrinsically Polar Elastic Metamaterials

In many applications, one needs to combine materials with varying properties to achieve certain functionalities. For example, the inner layer of a helmet should be soft for cushioning while the outer shell should be rigid to provide protection. Over time, these combined materials either separate or wear and tear, risking the exposure of an undesired material property. This work presents a design principle for a material that gains unique properties from its 3D microstructure, consisting of repeating basic building blocks, rather than its material composition. The 3D printed specimens show, at two of its opposing faces along the same axis, different stiffness (i.e., soft on one face and hard on the other). The realized material is protected by design (i.e., topology) against cuts and tears: No matter how material is removed, either layer by layer, or in arbitrary cuts through the repeating building blocks, two opposing faces remain largely different in their mechanical response.     

Power Transfer via Metamaterials

Metamaterials offer new propagation modes for electromagnetic signals which have been explored as media for data exchange. They also offer a good prospect for efficient power transfer. This paper considers the limits on transferable power and their consequences in relation to magneto inductive waves in 1 and 2 dimensional magnetic metamaterial structures. The upper limit is found to be directly related to the voltage tolerance of capacitances used in the meta-material’s construction. Higher resonant frequencies offer better efficiency and higher maximum powers. For a proposed device operating in the Qi band (100-200k Hz) power transfer limits of 140 W are derived. The effects of finite length guides on performance and limitations imposed by standing waves and improper termination are explored.     

Nanolattices: An Emerging Class of Mechanical Metamaterials

In 1903, Alexander Graham Bell developed a design principle to generate lightweight, mechanically robust lattice structures based on triangular cells; this has since found broad application in lightweight design. Over one hundred years later, the same principle is being used in the fabrication of nanolattice materials, namely lattice structures composed of nanoscale constituents. Taking advantage of the size‐dependent properties typical of nanoparticles, nanowires, and thin films, nanolattices redefine the limits of the accessible material‐property space throughout different disciplines. Herein, the exceptional mechanical performance of nanolattices, including their ultrahigh strength, damage tolerance, and stiffness, are reviewed, and their potential for multifunctional applications beyond mechanics is examined. The efficient integration of architecture and size‐affected properties is key to further develop nanolattices. The introduction of a hierarchical architecture is an effective tool in enhancing mechanical properties, and the eventual goal of nanolattice design may be to replicate the intricate hierarchies and functionalities observed in biological materials. Additive manufacturing and self‐assembly techniques enable lattice design at the nanoscale; the scaling‐up of nanolattice fabrication is currently the major challenge to their widespread use in technological applications.     

"超材料(metamaterials)":设计思想、材料体系与应用

"超材料(metamaterial)"指的是一些具有天然材料所不具备的超常物理性质的人工复合结构或复合材料.从本质上讲,metamaterial更是一种新颖的材料设计思想,这一思想是通过在材料的关键物理尺度上的结构有序设计来突破某些表观自然规律的限制.从而获得超常的材料功能.迄今发展出的"超材料"包括"左手材料"、光子晶体、"超磁性材料"等.本文就这一领域近年来的发展动向及其在信息技术上的潜在应用做简单的介绍.     

Bioinspired Metamaterials: Multibands Electromagnetic Wave Adaptability and Hydrophobic Characteristics

Although various photonic devices inspired by natural materials have been developed, there is no research focusing on multibands adaptability, which is not conducive to the advancement of materials science. Herein, inspired by the moth eye surface model, state‐of‐the‐art hierarchical metamaterials (MMs) used as tunable devices in multispectral electromagnetic‐waves (EMWs) frequency range, from microwave to ultraviolet (UV), are designed and prepared. Experimentally, the robust broad bandwidth of microwave absorption greater than 90% (reflection loss (RL) < ?10 dB) covering almost entire X and Ku bands (8.04–17.88 GHz) under a deep sub‐wavelength thickness (1 mm) is demonstrated. The infrared emissivity is reduced and does not affect the microwave absorption simultaneously, further realizing anti‐reflection and camouflage via the strong visible light scattering by the microstructure, and can prevent degradation by reducing the transmittance to less than 10% over the whole near UV band, as well as having hydrophobic abilities. The mechanism explored via simulation model is that topological effects are found in the bio‐structure. This discovery points to a pathway for using natural models to overcome physical limits of MMs and has promising prospect in novel photonic materials.     

Active Metamaterials for Modulation and Detection

This paper illustrates some new concepts in the area of hybrid metamaterials, which are metamaterials that are embedded with active circuit elements such as transistors. Such transistor/metamaterial hybrids can exhibit some exotic electromagnetic properties which can be exploited for unusual and exciting functions. Two specific examples are provided. In one application, terahertz (THz) modulator based on embedding of psuedomorphic high electron mobility transistor (pHEMT) within the metamaterial resonator, all implemented monolithically in a commercial gallium arsenide (GaAs) technology is presented. In another application, a detector array based on metamaterial perfect absorber for room-temperature detection of gigahertz (GHz) radiation within each sub wavelength metamaterial unit cell is presented. The latter application utilizes a hybridization of metamaterial on printed circuit board (PCB) with discrete microwave electronic components. Both applications indicate the promise of the approach of integrating electronics or semiconductor devices with metamaterials for new and innovative functions.