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Three-dimensional photonic metamaterials at optical frequencies

Nature Materials volume 7, pages 31–37 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Metamaterials are artificially structured media with unit cells much smaller than the wavelength of light. They have proved to possess novel electromagnetic properties, such as negative magnetic permeability and negative refractive index1,2,3. This enables applications such as negative refraction4, superlensing5 and invisibility cloaking6. Although the physical properties can already be demonstrated in two-dimensional (2D) metamaterials, the practical applications require 3D bulk-like structures4,5,6. This prerequisite has been achieved in the gigahertz range for microwave applications owing to the ease of fabrication by simply stacking printed circuit boards4,6. In the optical domain, such an elegant method has been the missing building block towards the realization of 3D metamaterials. Here, we present a general method to manufacture 3D optical (infrared) metamaterials using a layer-by-layer technique7,8,9. Specifically, we introduce a fabrication process involving planarization, lateral alignment and stacking. We demonstrate stacked metamaterials, investigate the interaction between adjacent stacked layers and analyse the optical properties of stacked metamaterials with respect to an increasing number of layers.

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Figure 1: Structure geometry and fabrication procedures.
Figure 2: Field-emission scanning electron microscopy images of the four-layer SRR structure.
Figure 3: Experimental measurement and numerical simulation for the four-layer SRR structure.
Figure 4: Optical properties as a function of spacer layer thickness for the four-layer SRR structure.
Figure 5: Evolution of optical spectra with the number of SRR layers.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank M. Dressel, T. Zentgraf and T. P. Meyrath for useful discussions and comments. We are grateful to M. Hirscher and U. Eigenthaler at the Max-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung and R. Schmidt at Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH for their electron microscopy support. We acknowledge H. Graebeldinger, E. Koroknay and M. Ubl for technical assistance. This work was financially supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SPP1113 and FOR557), by Landesstiftung BW, and by BMBF (13N9155).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 4. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

    Na Liu, Hongcang Guo, Liwei Fu, Heinz Schweizer & Harald Giessen

  2. 1. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

    Stefan Kaiser

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  1. Na Liu
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Correspondence to Harald Giessen.

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Liu, N., Guo, H., Fu, L. et al. Three-dimensional photonic metamaterials at optical frequencies. Nature Mater 7, 31–37 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2072

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