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Title: Chemically Responsive Elastomers Exhibiting Unity-Order Refractive Index Modulation

Journal Article · · Advanced Materials
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  3. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; Rice Univ., Houston, TX (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  4. Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) (Spain)

Abstract Chameleons are masters of light, expertly changing their color, pattern, and reflectivity in response to their environment. Engineered materials that share this tunability can be transformative, enabling active camouflage, tunable holograms, and novel colorimetric medical sensors. While progress has been made in creating artificial chameleon skin, existing schemes often require external power, are not continuously tunable, and may prove too stiff or bulky for applications. Here, a chemically tunable, large‐area metamaterial is demonstrated that accesses a wide range of colors and refractive indices. An ordered monolayer of nanoresonators is fabricated, then its optical response is dynamically tuned by infiltrating its polymer substrate with solvents. The material shows a strong magnetic response with a dependence on resonator spacing that leads to a highly tunable effective permittivity, permeability, and refractive index spanning negative and positive values. The unity‐order index tuning exceeds that of traditional electro‐optic and photochromic materials and is robust to cycling, providing a path toward programmable optical elements and responsive light routing.

Research Organization:
California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001293; DE‐SC0001293
OSTI ID:
1470403
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1416393
Journal Information:
Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 7; Related Information: LMI partners with California Institute of Technology (lead); Harvard University; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; ISSN 0935-9648
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 16 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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2D hybrid networks of gold nanoparticles: mechanoresponsive optical humidity sensors journal January 2019
Largely Lowered Transition Temperature of a VO 2 /Carbon Hybrid Phase Change Material with High Thermal Emissivity Switching Ability and Near Infrared Regulations journal September 2018
Recent Progress in Active Optical Metasurfaces journal April 2019
A Stretchable Terahertz Parabolic‐Shaped Metamaterial journal June 2019
Tunable, Cost‐Effective, and Scalable Structural Colors for Sensing and Consumer Products journal July 2019
Electromagnetically induced transparency in terahertz complementary spiral-shape metamaterials journal January 2019