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Monday, 16th January 2006 (5955 views)

Scientists have used gold to come a step closer to forming a material that has a negative refractive index within a visible spectrum of wavelengths.

An international team that includes representatives from Manchester University in the UK, has provided details of a new metamaterial found to conduct electron clouds in the near-infrared range.

Gold nanorods between 100nm and 700nm long are arranged in parallel lines, and a light is shone that causes an electro-optical current.

The electron clouds are seen to move together as if a single object at the 1.55m wavelength that is usually used for fiber-optic communications. The fact that this is possible in an optical range means a higher chance that optical images could be generated of objects smaller than the wavelength of light. This would be useful for fields such as communications and computing, as well as imaging in healthcare.

Vladimir Shalaev, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue, told the Electric Engineering Times: "The challenge was to fabricate a structure that would have not only an electrical response, but also a magnetic response in the near-infrared range.

"We have created a structure that works as a sort of optical circuit and interacts effectively with both of the field components of light: electrical and magnetic."

The Optical Society of America published the research in the journal Optics Letters.

 

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