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The resonant nature and geometric scalability make metamaterials an ideal platform for an enhanced light–matter interaction over a broad frequency range. The mid-infrared (IR) spectral range is of great importance for vibrational spectroscopy of molecules, while IR metamaterials created from lithography-based planar nanostructures have been used to demonstrate enhanced molecular detection. Compared with visible and near-infrared, the relative long wavelengths of IR light make it possible to achieve three-dimensional (3D) IR metamaterials via the state-of-the-art 3D fabrication techniques. Here, we design and fabricate a 3D printed plasmonic metamaterial absorber (MMA), and by performing Fourier-transform IR spectroscopy, we demonstrate that a series of molecular fingerprint vibrations of glycine can be significantly enhanced by the high absorption mode supported by the 3D meta-atoms of the MMA. The observed enhanced IR detection can also be partially attributed to the improved accessibility offered by the 3D architecture of the MMA. In particular, due to capillary forces during the drying process, the microscale 3D printed features lead to selective analyte deposition in high-field regions, which provides another degree of freedom in the design of the 3D printed structures for surface-enhanced IR detection. Our study shows the flexibility of metastructures based on advanced 3D printing technology in tailoring the interaction between IR light and materials on a subwavelength scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving sufficient energy transmission over a wide frequency range is a challenge which has restricted the application of many types of air-coupled ultrasonic transducers. Conventional transducer configurations such as the piezoelectric micromachined or flexural ultrasonic transducers can be considered as narrowband. This study reports a type of ultrasonic transducer, the wideband electromagnetic dynamic acoustic transducer (WEMDAT), which operates through a combination of electromagnetic induction and Lorentz force with dynamic behaviour of a micro-scale-thick conductive film. WEMDAT prototypes have been designed, fabricated, and tested, showing their compatibility with both low and high power inputs, operating efficiently as a wideband transmitter from 46.4 kHz to 144.6 kHz with a good directivity. The WEMDAT has also been shown to operate effectively as a wideband ultrasonic receiver through the measurement in a pitch-catch configuration. The WEMDAT prototypes possess an adjustable drive coil lift-off distance from the active membrane, providing flexibility for optimizing the sensitivity of the transducers for different input levels. The performance of the WEMDATs can be optimized, showing significant potential for air-coupled ultrasonic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spoof plasmonics, which can enable strong terahertz (THz) radiation–matter interactions, hold great promise for the advancement of THz science and technology. However, THz spoof plasmonic devices based on micro-structured metals are in general limited by lithography-based fabrication processes as well as metals' mechanical, chemical, and thermal stability, which hinders their applications in, for instance, flexible and wearable THz imaging and communications, molecular sensing, etc. Possessing high electrical conductivity and outstanding mechanical robustness, graphene-assembled films (GAFs) promise many benefits for electronics as an alternative to metals. Here, by studying the resonance-enhanced transmission properties of subwavelength GAF hole arrays, we demonstrate a GAF metasurface as a transformative platform for flexible THz spoof plasmonics. Based on a laser direct writing (LDW) patterning technique, the proposed micro-engineered GAF is expected to pave the way toward large-area, durable, and inexpensive THz metadevices with superior flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors experimentally demonstrate a magnetically tunable optical negative refraction (NR) in nematic liquid crystals (NLCs), arising from the variation of optical anisotropy in the NLCs induced by external magnetic field. By measuring the refraction angle of the transmitted beam through the prism-shaped NLC device, the tunable extraordinary refractions for different molecular directions using magnetic field are observed. It shows that NR in NLCs occurs at certain inclination angle and can be tuned by changing the direction of the magnetic field, which is in good agreement with the established theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electrically tunable negative permeability metamaterial consisting of a periodic array of split ring resonators infiltrated with nematic liquid crystals is demonstrated. It shows that the transmitted resonance dip of the metamaterial can be continuously and reversibly adjusted by an applied electric field, and the maximum shift is about 210 MHz with respect to the resonance frequency around 11.08 GHz. Numerical simulation shows that the permeability is negative near the resonance frequency, and the frequency range with negative permeability can be dynamically adjusted and widened by about 200 MHz by the electric field. It provides a convenient means to design adaptive metamaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identify the microscopic structural origins determining the bandgaps in the deep-ultraviolet borates, and propose an efficient method for the prediction of their bandgaps. This method considers only the chemical bond lengths around oxygen atoms and achieves the very high precision with the relative error <5% typically. Its validity is verified by the first-principles studies, which reveal the strong dependence of bandgaps on the coordination environment around oxygen atoms. Our studies have great implications on the search and design of optoelectronic functional materials with large bandgap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A tunable isotropic negative effective permeability is experimentally demonstrated in a three-dimensional (3D) dielectric composite consisting of dielectric ceramic cube arrays by temperature changing. It shows that a strong subwavelength magnetic resonance can be excited in dielectric cubes corresponding to the first Mie resonance mode and can be continuously and reversibly adjusted from 13.65 to 19.28 GHz with the temperature changing from -15 to 35 °C. Accordingly, negative permeability can be performed in the frequency range of about 6 GHz by adjusting the temperature. It provides a convenient route to design adaptive metamaterials and 3D invisible cloak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resonance based strong light-matter interaction in metamaterials offers unprecedented opportunities to manipulate polarization of electromagnetic waves. In this work, we fabricate a three-dimensional (3D) metamaterial consisting of 90°-twisted split-tube resonators using a 3D printing technique and demonstrate the corresponding asymmetric transmission for linearly polarized electromagnetic waves in the Ku band with near-unity polarization conversion efficiency. Experimental results reveal a 90° polarization rotation and an incident polarization angle dependent asymmetric transmission at a frequency around 15.2 GHz. The experimental results are in good agreement with simulations. Possessing the merits of both flexibility of response tailoring and ease of fabrication, the proposed 3D-printed metamaterials have great potential for compact polarization-control devices exhibiting unidirectional transmission at both microwave and terahertz frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A magnetotunable left-handed material (LHM) consisting of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) slab and metallic wires has been demonstrated by experiments and simulations. The left-handed passband through the LHM can be dynamically and continuously tuned in a wide frequency region by an applied magnetic field. The tunability of the passband is attributed to that of the negative permeability induced by ferromagnetic resonance in the YIG slab. The authors proposed a convenient means to design tunable LHM based on the ferromagnetic materials as an alternative to tunable split ring resonators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]