The recent collaboration of partners from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the US Navy, and Sandia National Laboratory describe a new nanomanufacturing method for NIMs in a recent report in Nature Nanotechnology (D. Chanda, et al. Nature Nanotechnology 6, 402 (2011)). This report describes a three-step nanotransfer printing technique for making large-area 3D NIM patterns. The team describes successful demonstrations onto a hard, or alternately flexible, substrate surface, and also free standing NIM structures. The resulting structures were tested optically at infrared frequencies. Ultimately, if metamaterials are to see widespread implementation, realistic low-cost methods are needed, and this recent work may provide a valuable contribution toward that goal.
Reviewed by Mark Tuominen, Director of the National Nanomanufacturing Network and Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Chanda D, Shigeta K, Gupta S, Cain T, Carlson A, et al. 2011. Large-area flexible 3D optical negative index metamaterial formed by nanotransfer printing. Nature Nanotechnology. 6 (7): 402-407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.82
Figure reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Chanda D, Shigeta K, Gupta S, Cain T, Carlson A, et al. 2011. Large-area flexible 3D optical negative index metamaterial formed by nanotransfer printing. Nature Nanotechnology. 6 (7): 402-407. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.82