These Materials Could Make Science Fiction a Reality

Imagine operating a computer by moving your hands in the air as Tony Stark does in “Iron Man.” Or using a smartphone to magnify an object as does the device that Harrison Ford’s character uses in “Blade Runner.” Or a next-generation video meeting where augmented reality glasses make it possible to view 3D avatars. Or a generation of autonomous vehicles capable of driving safely in city traffic.

The technologies themselves are not new. Early in the 19th century, French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel proposed the idea of flattening and lightening optical lenses by employing a series of concentric grooves to focus light. A key innovation behind metamaterials is that they are constructed with subcomponents smaller than the wavelength of the type of radiation they are designed to manipulate.

Lidars use lasers to create precise maps of surrounding objects up to distances of hundreds of yards. Lidars are widely used by companies that are developing self-driving vehicles, and today they are mostly mechanical systems that rapidly spin a laser beam to create a map. Another company trying to harness the potential of metamaterials is Metalenz, founded in 2017 by Robert Devlin and Federico Capasso, now working on a new way to make optical lenses using powerful and inexpensive computer chipmaking technologies.

An obvious first step for the new technology will be to replace the plastic lenses found in smartphones, which Metalenz will begin doing next year, but that is only the first mass market for metamaterials. According to Devlin, there will also be applications in controlling how we interact with computers and automotive safety systems, as well as improving the ability of inexpensive robots to move in crowded environments.

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