Two-Dimensional Graphene Metamaterials and One-Atom-Thick Optical Devices

University of Pennsylvania
June 9, 2011

Two University of Pennsylvania engineers have proposed the possibility of two-dimensional metamaterials. These one-atom-thick metamaterials could be achieved by controlling the conductivity of sheets of graphene, which is a single layer of carbon atoms.

Professor Nader Engheta and graduate student Ashkan Vakil, both of theDepartment of Electrical and Systems Engineering in Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, published their theoretical research in the journal Science today.

The study of metamaterials is an interdisciplinary field of science and engineering that has grown considerably in recent years. It is premised on the idea that materials can be designed so that their overall wave qualities rely not only upon the material they are made of but also on the pattern, shape and size of irregularities, known as “inclusions,” or “meta-molecules” that are embedded within host media.

“By designing the properties of the inclusions, as well as their shapes and density, you achieve in the bulk property something that may be unusual and not readily available in nature,” Engheta said.
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