Japanese researchers invent completely transparent material

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David @ May 3rd 2006 4:58AM

Um...this is not a very big deal.

1. Metamaterials operate on electromagnetic waves with a wavelength that is much larger than the unit cell size. From the picture the unit cell is about 15 microns, so this material works at a wavelength of 100 mircrons or larger, no where near visible light, though perhaps useful for Terahertz imaging. (Terahertz is a pretty useful band for security related applications.)

2. The material they made only responds to magnetic fields in one dimension. You would need the ring structures in three oreintations to make an isotropic material. This material will reflect like crazy if you send in the wrong polarization or unpolarized waves.

3. These are not even the smallest split ring resonators every made, i.e. other groups have made smaller rings that operate closer to visible light.
http://www.cfn.uni-karlsruhe.de/web/index.php?tabId=312

4. This is a freaking press release. It is very difficult to make and verify negative index media at that length scale. I hope they did succeed.

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