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Magnetoelastic metamaterials

Nature Materials volume 11, pages 30–33 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

The study of advanced artificial electromagnetic materials, known as metamaterials, provides a link from material science to theoretical and applied electrodynamics, as well as to electrical engineering. Being initially intended mainly to achieve negative refraction1,2, the concept of metamaterials quickly covered a much broader range of applications, from microwaves to optics and even acoustics3,4. In particular, nonlinear metamaterials established a new research direction 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 giving rise to fruitful ideas for tunable and active artificial materials13,14,15. Here we introduce the concept of magnetoelastic metamaterials, where a new type of nonlinear response emerges from mutual interaction. This is achieved by providing a mechanical degree of freedom so that the electromagnetic interaction in the metamaterial lattice is coupled to elastic interaction. This enables the electromagnetically induced forces to change the metamaterial structure, dynamically tuning its effective properties. This concept leads to a new generation of metamaterials, and can be compared to such fundamental concepts of modern physics as optomechanics16 of photonic structures or magnetoelasticity in magnetic materials.

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Figure 1: An anisotropic magnetic metamaterial combined with an elastic medium.
Figure 2: General explanation of magnetoelastic behaviour.
Figure 3: Power dependence of the metamaterial response.
Figure 4: Frequency dependence of the magnetoelastic response.
Figure 5: Experimental observation of the magnetoelastic nonlinearity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council. The authors thank M. Gorkunov and A. Sukhorukov for useful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nonlinear Physics Centre and Centre for Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS), Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

    Mikhail Lapine, Ilya V. Shadrivov, David A. Powell & Yuri S. Kivshar

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  1. Mikhail Lapine
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  2. Ilya V. Shadrivov
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  3. David A. Powell
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  4. Yuri S. Kivshar
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Contributions

Theoretical analysis was carried out by M.L. and experiments were carried out by I.V.S. and D.A.P. All authors analysed and discussed the results. The manuscript was written by M.L., Y.S.K., D.A.P. and I.V.S. and the figures were prepared by I.V.S., D.A.P. and M.L.

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Correspondence to Mikhail Lapine.

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Lapine, M., Shadrivov, I., Powell, D. et al. Magnetoelastic metamaterials. Nature Mater 11, 30–33 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3168

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