Invisible metallic mesh.

Ye, Dexin; Lu, Ling; Joannopoulos, John D; Soljačić, Marin; Ran, Lixin · Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · 2016

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

A solid material possessing identical electromagnetic properties as air has yet to be found in nature. Such a medium of arbitrary shape would neither reflect nor refract light at any angle of incidence in free space. Here, we introduce nonscattering corrugated metallic wires to construct such a medium. This was accomplished by aligning the dark-state frequencies in multiple scattering channels of a single wire. Analytical solutions, full-wave simulations, and microwave measurement results on 3D printed samples show omnidirectional invisibility in any configuration. This invisible metallic mesh can improve mechanical stability, electrical conduction, and heat dissipation of a system, without disturbing the electromagnetic design. Our approach is simple, robust, and scalable to higher frequencies.