ARTIFICIALLY ENGINEERED

Artificially engineered "metamaterials" display unusual behaviour in the way they can manipulate electromagnetic radiation. The negative refractive index characteristic of these materials bends the light in the opposite direction to ordinary materials, thus allowing the light to be guided around an object instead of being refracted or reflected. Such effects are generally most pronounced when the metamaterial used is on the order of the electromagnetic wavelength. At present most of the research is focused on the manipulation of microwaves, where research has shown that nanostructured metamaterials can focus incident light and act as a lens. Such devices are capable of sub wavelength imaging and allow for the creation of a super lens with a resolution better than the diffraction limit. Other possibilities include a cloak that will render an object invisible. RoyalSociety