https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10408-8
https://www.cas.cn/cm/202604/t20260423_5107698.shtml
Optical metamaterials are like meticulously woven “photonic fabrics.” By controlling the geometric parameters and spatial arrangement of structural units, they can break through the physical limits of traditional materials, precisely controlling the propagation behavior of light, such as transmission, reflection, scattering, and diffraction, as well as its phase and polarization characteristics. This allows for a series of optical functions that natural materials cannot achieve, such as light deflection, cloaking, focusing, and holographic imaging. These materials are driving technological revolution in multiple fields, including imaging, computing, communication, and energy. However, their research and application still face two major bottlenecks: First, research is generally limited to single-scale structures, resulting in limited material functions and insufficient dimensions for performance control. Second, fabrication heavily relies on precision processing technologies such as photolithography, which is inefficient, costly, and time-consuming, making large-scale, low-cost manufacturing difficult and severely hindering practical application.
A research team at the CAS Institute of Chemistry has worked out a novel solution to both issues. First, it focused on the structure, creating a micrometer-scale hemispherical structure composed of a periodic nanolattice. This structure, through the synergistic coupling of the photonic lattice and the optical interface, precisely controls optical transmission behavior across multiple scales, resulting in a rich variety of colors within the unit structure, much like a kaleidoscope displaying a thousand colors at a time. Regarding the second bottleneck, large-scale fabrication, the team developed a high-throughput on-demand printing and roll-to-roll continuous manufacturing process. Similar to newspaper printing, flexible substrates are continuously transported from one roller to another, achieving continuous nanoscale precision printing. This technology can rapidly fabricate low-cost polymer nanomaterials into optical metamaterials with customized single-pixel performance, enabling precise manufacturing across multiple scales.
The technology is believed to have considerable application potential and industrial value in key areas such as photonic information, anti-counterfeiting imaging, precision medical sensing, and green photonic energy.