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New ‘metamaterial’ practical for optical advances
The researchers have shown how to create the metamaterials without the traditional silver or gold previously required, said Alexandra Boltasseva, a Purdue University assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Using the metals is impractical for industry because of high cost and incompatibility with semiconductor manufacturing processes. The metals also do not transmit light efficiently, causing much of it to be lost. The Purdue researchers replaced the metals with an "aluminum-doped zinc oxide," or AZO.
The novel metamaterial can easily be integrated into semiconductor electronics, which could advance sensors, solar collectors, quantum computing and optical cloaks, and could lead to devices that make optical microscopes 10 times more powerful.
PNAS – Demonstration of Al:ZnO as a plasmonic component for near-infrared metamaterials
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