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June 16, 2015 04:00 pm

Metamaterial Forms Near-Perfect Mirror

New submitter JMarshall writes: Researchers have made near-perfect reflectors out of a silicon metamaterial. These reflectors could offer a simpler, less expensive way to make high-performance mirrors for lasers or telescopes. Metamaterials typically use nanoscale patterning to create unusual properties not present in the bulk material. In this new method, researchers used off-the-shelf, nanosized polystyrene beads and allowed them to self-assemble into a monolayer with a hexagonal pattern. Using the monolayer as a photolithographic mask, the researchers etched an array of silicon cylinders, each a few hundred nanometers across, onto a wafer. The cylinders act like tiny resonators for a particular light frequency—analogous to the way a given sound frequency will make a tuning fork hum. The array reflected 99.7 % of incident light at their peak wavelength. These simple metamaterial mirrors might one day replace current high-performance reflectors, which are somewhat costly to make.

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