Metamaterial
As the brotherhood of science and art grow increasingly strong its not surprising that we are looking more and more to science…
As the brotherhood of science and art grow increasingly strong its not surprising that we are looking more and more to science to source new materials. We’ve seen Graphene, making waves in the technological design world and the likes of Litracon trademarking see-through concrete. The next in this long line of science endeavours is Metamarial, a material that promises us the invisibility cloak and ultrahigh-resolution “superlenses”.
How it works; it uses intricately patterned layers, usually of metal, to leave the material with the ability to refract light in a new way. The patterns are made to the same scale as the wavelength they are designed to interact with, making the light essentially bend the “wrong” way.
In the past this new material has been confined to the science lab as researchers haven’t been able to make pieces larger than hundreds of micrometers. That’s till John Rogers came along with his new stamp based printing method. The professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois says that so far he has been able to print pieces of Metamaterial a few inches wide and hopes that by using several of these stamp printers he can move that up to square feet.
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