Meta materials may bring advanced optical technologies, cloaking

A new class of plasmonic metamaterials could make possible “nanophotonic” devices for ultrapowerful microscopes and computers, improved solar cells, and a possible invisibility cloak.

Purdue University: 21 January 2011

Image: Researchers are developing a new class of “plasmonic metamaterials” as potential building blocks for advanced optical technologies and a range of potential breakthroughs in the field of transformation optics. This image shows the transformation optics “quality factor” for several plasmonic materials. For transformation optical devices, the quality factor rises as the amount of light “lost,” or absorbed, by plasmonic materials falls, resulting in materials that are promising for a range of advanced technologies. (Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University)