The METASCALE project was launched to address an important challenge in modern optics: how to create advanced materials that can control light precisely, but in a way that is scalable, affordable, and environmentally friendly.
These materials, called metasurfaces, are extremely thin layers that can shape and manipulate light in ways that traditional optical components cannot. They have great potential for applications in imaging, communications, and sensing, but their use has been limited by the lack of simple and cost-effective manufacturing methods.
METASCALE set out to overcome this limitation by developing new laser- and soft-lithographt based hybrid fabrication techniques that allow metasurfaces to be produced directly on different materials, without the need for complex cleanroom processes. The project brought together expertise from materials science, ultrafast optics, and computational physics, and chemistry to create a new generation of fabrication tools for both research and industrial applications.
The work was organised around four main objectives:
Objective 1: Design new metasurface structures and develop fabrication plans using ultrafast laser processing and nanoimprint lithography.
Objective 2: Produce and characterise the materials needed for these structures, such as thin films and multilayer stacks, ensuring they meet the required optical and structural properties.
Objective 3: Understand how different fabrication parameters affect the quality and performance of the resulting metasurfaces.
Objective 4: Integrate all findings by producing large-area prototypes and testing their optical performance, scalability, and reproducibility.
Together, these steps created a clear pathway from concept to prototype, showing that reliable and sustainable metasurface production is possible using laser-based approaches.
In a broader sense, METASCALE contributes directly to Europe’s goals for sustainable and digital innovation. The project supports the development of cleaner, faster, and more flexible manufacturing technologies and helps strengthen Europe’s leadership in advanced materials and photonics. By showing that cutting-edge science can go hand in hand with environmental responsibility and industrial needs, METASCALE offers a strong example of innovation with real impact.
