Letter abstract


Nature Materials 7, 543 - 546 (2008)
Published online: 11 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/nmat2197

Subject Categories: Semiconductors | Optical, photonic and optoelectronic materials

Photonic metamaterials by direct laser writing and silver chemical vapour deposition

Michael S. Rill1, Christine Plet1, Michael Thiel1, Isabelle Staude1, Georg von Freymann1,2, Stefan Linden1,2 & Martin Wegener1,2

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Metamaterials are artificial materials that—unlike natural substances—enable magnetism to be achieved at optical frequencies1, 2, 3. The vast majority of photonic metamaterials4, 5 has been fabricated by electron-beam lithography and evaporation of metal films, both of which are well-established two-dimensional (2D) technologies. Although stacking of three6 or four7 functional layers made using these methods has been reported, a truly 3D fabrication approach would be preferable for 3D photonic metamaterials. Here, we report first steps in this direction by using a combination of direct laser writing8, 9 and silver chemical vapour deposition10, 11—the 3D analogues of electron-beam lithography and evaporation, respectively. The optical characterization of a planar test structure composed of elongated split-ring resonators is in good agreement with theory. Retrieval of the effective optical parameters reveals the importance of bi-anisotropy. Once suitable theoretical blueprints are available, our fabrication approach will enable rapid prototyping of truly 3D photonic metamaterials.

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  1. Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Wolfgang-Gaede-Stras zlige 1, D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
  2. Institut für Nanotechnologie, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany

Correspondence to: Michael S. Rill1 e-mail: Michael.Rill@physik.uni-karlsruhe.de



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