1. Development of Unconventional Nano‐Metamaterials from Viral Nano‐Building Blocks
- Author
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Paolo Passaretti, Zoe Schofield, Jonathan James Stanley Rickard, Henry White, Sumeet Mahajan, Pola Goldberg Oppenheimer, Goldberg Oppenheimer, Pola [0000-0002-1014-4724], and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
- Subjects
optical properties ,3403 Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry ,34 Chemical Sciences ,Physics::Optics ,4016 Materials Engineering ,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,M13 viral building‐blocks ,4018 Nanotechnology ,nanometamaterials ,51 Physical Sciences ,Research Articles ,40 Engineering ,Research Article - Abstract
Funder: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Structured metamaterials are periodically arranged nanostructures in which the dielectric constant is periodically modulated on a length‐scale comparable to the desired wavelength of operation. Interactions of the electric fields of light waves with the sub‐wavelength unit structures can produce effects that are impossible in natural materials. Here, a technique to construct three‐dimensional (3D) metamaterials using self‐assembling M13 viral building‐blocks as templates which are then replicated into a metal quasi‐3D nanostructure is developed. By correct fit of virus fragments, it is possible to employ them in a LEGO‐like way to build up well‐defined structures on the nanoscale. The virus blocks are designed to spontaneously assemble into 3D‐periodic network structures with interesting optical properties. Subsequently, templating of these nanostructures into inorganic materials allows the replication of their network into an inverse periodic metal structure, which has the appropriate architecture for optical metamaterials. Establishing such a technique provides an important link toward the realization of applied metamaterials potentially heralding a new era for developing novel types of bio‐synthetic optical materials. These materials have a wide range of potential uses including cloaking materials, light‐storage devices, high‐speed optical computers and nano‐lasers, and will offer numerous applications in transformation optics.
- Published
- 2022
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