Optical Filter Stretching Could Lead To Photovoltaic Breakthrough

As reported in Technology Review, Caltech researchers have demonstrated that by mechanically stretching an optical filter made from a metamaterial — in this case, an array of silver resonators on a polymer film — they can dynamically change which wavelength of infrared light it responds to.

Metamaterials are artificial materials tailored to manipulate electromagnetic waves in ways that natural materials cannot. The field of metamaterials has made exciting devices possible, such as invisibility cloaks, highly absorbent coatings for solar cells, and ultra-high-resolution microscope lenses. However, metamaterials work in a very limited range of wavelengths of light in most cases.

Metamaterials that could be tuned, instead of working in a fixed wavelength, could lead to the development of thermal photovoltaics that change their properties with the weather in order to remain highly efficient, goggles that adjust to block out blinding glare, and devices that process optical signals for faster telecommunications.

To read the entire Technology Review article and more details on the research, click here.