Breaking metamaterial symmetry with reflected light

Optical activity—rotation of the polarization of light—is well known to occur within materials that differ from their mirror image. But what happens if this symmetry is broken by the direction of illumination rather than ...

Artificial materials are revealing how living things work

Theoretical physicists are caricatured in the popular imagination as only involved in abstruse and difficult-to-imagine topics. But some of these theoretical physicists are involved in something closer to home: using artificial ...

New material puts a twist in light

Scientists at The Australian National University (ANU) have uncovered the secret to twisting light at will. It is the latest step in the development of photonics, the faster, more compact and less carbon-hungry successor ...

Modeling metamaterials

EPFL scientists have developed an innovative mathematical method to greatly improve computer modeling of metamaterials.

Artificial muscle contracts and expands with changes in humidity

(Phys.org) —A small plastic strip can do "weight training" to effortlessly lifts many times its own weight, driven by cyclic changes in the humidity of the surrounding air. This strong "artificial arm" is based on the interaction ...

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