Flexible epsilon-near-zero metamaterials
Epsilon-near-zero materials promise non-linear optical enhancement, light transport through arbitrary channels, wave-front shaping and control over optical emission. Typically implemented using either naturally occurring effects for example in conductive oxides or through multi-layer stacks all implementations are limited to flat-substrates that are compatible with clean room processing.
In our work published in APL Photonics, we have now demonstrated a flexible epsilon-near-zero metamaterial, consisting of a metal-polymer stack. Our material can be repeatably bent, without affecting the optical properties and can be placed on arbitrarily shaped substrates after fabrication.
This work was done together with the Synthetic Optics group and is the first paper of a very productive collaboration. Watch this space for more results from this collaboration, they will be coming soon.