New `metamateriaal` brings superfast computers closer to reality

Washington D.C; A team of scientists has come up with a new  metamaterialwith an unusual refraction of light that will speed up the computers.

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics in the Russian Academy of Sciences has proposed a two-dimensional metamaterial composed of silver elements, that refracts light in an unusual way. In the future, these structures will be able to be used to develop compact optical devices, as well as to create an 'invisibility cloak.'

The results of computer simulations carried out by the authors showed that it would b a high performance material for light with a wavelength from 400-500 nm (violet, blue and light blue). Efficiency in this case is defined as the percentage of light scattered in a desired direction.

The efficiency of the material is approximately 70 percent for refraction, and 80 percent for reflection of the light. Theoretically, the efficiency could reach 100 percent, but in real metals there are losses due to ohm resistance.

A metamaterial is a material, the properties of which are created by an artificial periodic structure. The prefix 'meta' indicates that the characteristics of the material are beyond what we see in nature.

The research is published in Optical Material Express.