Tunable magnetic response of metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper presents a thermally tunable optical metamaterial with negative permeability in the visible range, achieved by integrating metallic nanostrips with liquid crystals, allowing wavelength tuning via temperature control.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for tuning the magnetic response of metamaterials in the visible spectrum using liquid crystal phase transitions.

Findings

Magnetic response wavelength shifts from 650nm to 632nm with temperature increase.

Numerical simulations align well with experimental results.

Demonstrates effective thermal tuning of optical metamaterials.

Abstract

We demonstrate a thermally tunable optical metamaterial with negative permeability working in the visible range. By covering coupled metallic nanostrips with aligned nematic liquid crystals (NLCs), the magnetic response wavelength of the metamaterial is effectively tuned through control of the ambient temperature, changing the refractive index of LC via phase transitions. By increasing the ambient temperature from 20 degree to 50 degree, the magnetic response wavelength shifts from 650nm to 632nm. Numerical simulations confirm our tests and match the experimental observations well.