Metamaterials
Metamaterials are artificial materials engineered to have properties that are not found in nature. Metamaterials usually gain their properties from structure rather than composition, using small in homogeneities to create effective macroscopic behavior. Few examples are: Negative refractive index materials appear to permit the creation of super lenses, electromagnetic, acoustic and seismic metamaterials.
Applications
Potential applications of metamaterials are diverse and include remote aerospace applications, sensor detection and infrastructure monitoring, smart solar power management, public safety, radomes, high-frequency battlefield communication and lenses for high-gain antennas, improving ultrasonic sensors, and even shielding structures from earthquakes.
Plasmonic nanorod metamaterial
Researchers at Oregon State University and other institutions have developed a new “plasmonic nanorod metamaterial” using extraordinarily tiny rods of gold. It is one of the first real applications of “metamaterials” - artificial materials that have unusual properties based on their structure, which are not readily available in nature. The new material is made primarily from gold, but given the minuscule size of the device having bristles of about 20 nanometers wide. Here the use of gold aids its performance, because this rare metal is very inert and does not interact with biological or many other molecules. The new device is at least 10 times more sensitive than existing technology and can be tuned to sense different types of materials and is easy to make in differing sizes for individual needs. Plasmonic nanorod metamaterials is an important new application of nanotechnology and the field of metamaterials, find some significant uses in medicine, chemistry and physics and will have important applications in medical, biological and chemical sensors.Using this device and various optical techniques, sensors can determine very precisely the identity and amount of various substances, including extremely small compounds such as drugs, vitamins or hormones. The concept should find near-term applications in medicine and other fields.