top of page
WHAT ARE METAMATERIALS?
Metamaterials can create nearly arbitrary and highly intricate wave dynamics. This is changing how things are done from electromagnetics all the way to acoustics.
Over the past decade, metamaterials have given rise to new avenues for innovative devices and products, disrupting vast market sectors and providing unprecedented capabilities. More than eight thriving metamaterial-based companies have been launched so far, highlighting the enormous potential and versatility of metamaterial engineering.
WHY METAMATERIALS ARE MAKING WAVES
HIGH PERFORMANCE
LOWER COMPLEXITY
MASS MANUFACTURABILITY
LOWER COST
HIGHER POWER EFFICIENCY
BETTER FORM FACTOR
Materials are essential in every device that exists. Moreover, materials whose properties are dynamically tunable are critical for any and every active device—a device that changes its output signal based on some external stimulus. Beam-steering antennas, internet routers, modulators, and sensors are all examples of active devices.
Traditional engineering methods have been based on the use of active components, typically based on semiconductor electronic devices, to introduce reconfigurability to a system. By contrast, the materials-based engineering introduced with metamaterials approaches makes use of passive components to introduce dynamic tunability.
Metamaterial devices routinely reveal a high level of performance combined with such advantages as drastically reduced power consumption, minimal complexity, better form factors, significantly reduced cost, mass manufacturability, and greater flexibility and integration options. These advantages have been shown repeatedly in the many metamaterials companies spun out thus far and are a commonality among all of the metamaterial efforts.
Metamaterials are artificial structures that replace conventional materials in almost every conceivable way. They were discovered in 2000 by David and colleagues.
Metamaterials can cost-effectively exhibit properties that would be impossible or expensive to obtain when using conventional materials.
METAMATERIALS WILL DISRUPT LARGE MARKETS
Software defined materials
Metamaterials are tiny, structured elements that can mimic the response of conventional materials. However, the physical structure of the metamaterial is relatively simple. Achieving a viable structure or device is much more about design and engineering, making metamaterials a highly software and analysis oriented field. Once a specific metamaterial design has been obtained, it is often straightforward to leverage mature manufacturing techniques (such as printed circuit board and other lithographies) for mass production.
bottom of page