Research by the Schubert group, part of Nebraska’s NSF-funded Emergent Quantum Materials and Technologies (EQUATE) project, was selected as the front cover image and article for Advanced Optical Materials’ October 24, 2024 edition.
This work, “Nanocolumnar Metamaterial Platforms: Scaling Rules for Structural Parameters Revealed from Optical Anisotropy,” was led by University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Ufuk Kilic and includes collaboration with Yousra Traouli, Matthew Hilfiker, Khalil Bryant, Stefan Schoeche, Rene Feder, Christos Argyropoulos, Eva Schubert, and Mathias Schubert. The journal article shows how nanocolumnar platforms exhibit characteristic anisotropy (physical property having a different value when measured in different directions), following a geometric scaling rule that enables prediction of the directional properties based on structural dimensions.
Kilic, a research assistant professor with UNL’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his team demonstrate their new-found scaling rules across nanocolumns fabricated from various materials, including zirconia, silicon, titanium, and permalloy, using the nanofabrication technique known as glancing angle deposition (GLAD). The team’s characterization findings offer enhanced precision in predicting and tailoring materials’ optical properties--to benefit nanometrology, quantum information systems, optoelectronics, and nanoparticle sensing.
The EQUATE project is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Award #OIA-2044049.
