Using metamaterials, a team of electrical engineering researchers from Penn State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Engineering created an ultrathin optical element that can control the direction of polarized electromagnetic light waves. This new control allows researchers to direct the light's chirality and identify the chirality of molecules by determining how polarized light interacts with them.
Identifying molecules' chirality can reveal critical information about how they will interact with other systems, such as whether specific drugs will help heal diseased or damaged tissue without harming healthy cells. Eva Franke-Schubert, Mathias Schubert, Ufuk Kilic, and colleagues co-authored the findings, which were published in the May 4 edition of Nature Communications.
May 23, 2024
Researchers fabricated an optical element that uses a forest of tiny, antenna-like nanorods, seen here, that together create a metamaterial able to control the spin of light. The metamaterial nanorods appear to be shaped like the letter “L” when seen at the nanoscale.
