"Lucky" combination of chemicals and laser pulses enables high-resolution, 3D patterning for futuristic optical materials.
Researchers in applied physics have cleared an important hurdle in the development of advanced materials, called metamaterials, thatbend light in unusual ways.
Working at a scale applicable to infrared light, the Harvard team has used extremely short and powerful laser pulses to create three-dimensional patterns of tiny silver dots within a material. Those suspended metal dots are essential forbuilding futuristic devices like invisibility cloaks.
The new fabrication process, described in the journal Applied Physics Letters, advances nanoscale metal lithography into three dimensions—and does it at a resolution high enough to be practical for metamaterials.
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