In this review we describe the challenges and opportunities for creating magnetically active metamaterials in the optical part of the spectrum. The emphasis is on the sub-wavelength periodic metamaterials whose unit cell is much smaller than the optical wavelength. The conceptual differences between microwave and optical metamaterials are demonstrated. We also describe several theoretical techn...

an important property of electromagnetic fields, which arises from the interaction between fields and chiral molecules, is called optical chirality. by enhancing this field property, while maintaining constant input power, we are able to increase absorption of circularly polarized light by chiral molecules of a certain handedness. this enhancement is achieved through the use of achiral plasmoni...

We review recent progress in optical metamaterials and demonstrate our sample with negative index behavior at the shortest wavelength so far (710 nm). We discuss the impact of fabrication limitations on the performance of metamaterials. ©2008 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: (160.3918) Metamaterials; (160.4236) Nanomaterials; (160.4670) Optical materials.

Cavity array metamaterials (CAMs), composed of optical microcavities in a lattice coupled via tight-binding interactions, represent a novel architecture for engineering metamaterials. Since the size of the CAMs' constituent elements are commensurate with the operating wavelength of the device, it cannot directly utilise classical transformation optics in the same way as traditional metamaterial...

We demonstrate that resonant optical forces generated within all-dielectric planar photonic metamaterials at near-infrared illumination wavelengths can be an order of magnitude larger than in corresponding plasmonic metamaterials, reaching levels many tens of times greater than the force resulting from radiation pressure. This is made possible by the dielectric structures' freedom from Joule lo...

Optical chiral metamaterials have recently attracted considerable attention because they offer new and exciting opportunities for fundamental research and practical applications. Through pragmatic designs, the chiroptical response of chiral metamaterials can be several orders of magnitude higher than that of natural chiral materials. Meanwhile, the local chiral fields can be enhanced by plasmon...

Metamaterials have opened up the possibility of unprecedented and fascinating concepts and applications in optics and photonics. Examples include negative refraction, perfect lenses, cloaking, perfect absorbers, and so on. Since these metamaterials are man-made materials composed of sub-wavelength structures, their development strongly depends on the advancement of micro- and nano-fabrication t...

Extensive efforts are being exerted to develop various types of acoustic metamaterials to effectively control the flow of acoustical energy through these materials. However, all these efforts are focused on passive metamaterials with fixed material properties. In this paper, the emphasis is placed on the development of a class of one-dimensional acoustic metamaterials with tunable effective den...

Self-assembled metamaterials attract considerable interest as they promise to make isotropic bulk metamaterials available at low costs. The optical response of self-assembled metamaterials is derived predominantly from the response of its individual constituents, i.e., the meta-atoms. Beyond effective properties, primary experimentally observable quantities, such as specific cross-sections, are...

Metamaterials are effectively homogeneous materials that display extraordinary dispersion. Negative index metamaterials, zero index metamaterials and extremely anisotropic metamaterials are just a few examples. Instead of using locally resonating elements that may cause undesirable absorption, there are huge efforts to seek alternative routes to obtain these unusual properties. Here, we demonst...