Objective The concept of optical metamaterials has opened completely new perspectives for manipulation of electromagnetic radiation. In contrast to homogenous materials, metamaterials enable qualitatively new features like negative index of refraction. These give rise to new fundamental physical effects, but as well to completely new applications like super-lensing or loss-free molding of the flow of light. Still, practical demonstrations of metamaterials for the near-IR and visible frequency range are scarce and limited to microscopic sizes. This is due to the fact that their assembly relies on complex and resource-consuming lithographic processes, which cannot be up-scaled well.This proposal aims at establishing a radically different assembly route for metamaterials, which is up-scalable to macroscopic areas and greatly reduces processing effort.The methodology relies on the synthesis of tailored colloidal building blocks, so-called meta-atoms, which combine metals and insulators in a well defined geometry. These meta-atoms will subsequently be assembled into hierarchical structures using templates fabricated by controlled wrinkling of elastomeric substrates. The use of mechanical instabilities in template formation eliminates lithographic steps in materials assembly. Structures and assembly processes will be optimized based on theory and simulation and morphological and optical properties will be investigated on meta-atom and metamaterials level.We target negative-index metamaterials, metamaterials for transformation optics and a new class of elastically deformable metamaterials. Upscaling of metamaterial formation on macroscopic dimensions will become feasible and the materials will become available for a broader academic and industrial community, making them in the mid-term available for applications in energy (light harvesting, light concentrators), information (manipulation of light flow) and medical technology (sensing). Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsnatural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicsgeometry Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-PE5 - ERC Starting Grant - Materials and Synthesis Call for proposal ERC-2012-StG_20111012 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Coordinator LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR POLYMERFORSCHUNG DRESDEN EV Address Hohe strasse 6 01069 Dresden Germany See on map Region Sachsen Dresden Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Research Organisations Principal investigator Andreas Fery (Prof.) Administrative Contact Sandra Martinka (Mrs.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window EU contribution No data Beneficiaries (2) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all LEIBNIZ-INSTITUT FUR POLYMERFORSCHUNG DRESDEN EV Germany EU contribution € 662 029,04 Address Hohe strasse 6 01069 Dresden See on map Region Sachsen Dresden Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Research Organisations Principal investigator Andreas Fery (Prof.) Administrative Contact Sandra Martinka (Mrs.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Other funding No data UNIVERSITAT BAYREUTH Participation ended Germany EU contribution € 807 616,96 Address Universitatsstrasse 30 95447 Bayreuth See on map Region Bayern Oberfranken Bayreuth, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Marcus Urban Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Other funding No data
