The colours are produced when a new type of material, created by the research team, is exposed to light. The magnetic vibrations induced in the material are so strong that they change the colour of the material from yellow to green. Such vibrations are supposed to be impossible in a natural medium.
The artificial material, created in collaboration with Chernogolovka Institute of Microelectronics Technologies (Russia) and Aston University (UK), has 'unnatural' optical properties and could be the precursor of a 'perfect lens', focusing images to show features smaller than the wavelength of light itself. It is based on Professor John Pendry's (Imperial College London) idea of generating the magnetic response in nonmagnetic composites.
Dr Alexander Grigorenko, of the University's School of Physics and Astronomy and Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, who led the research, said: "This discovery could be a milestone for optics and could help to realise the visible-light left-handed materials which promise the perfect lens. It also provides wherewithal for making new optical devices such as spasers and nanolasers."
The nanofabricated material was created by covering a glass plate with pairs of tiny gold pillars, each about 100 nanometres high. It was found that as light interacts with the structures, the induced currents create magnetic vibrations inside the pillar pairs and alter reflection properties, unlike a normal piece of gold. The research shows that negative permeability - a necessary condition for achieving a left-handed material - is indeed possible for visible light waves.
Dr Igor Khrushchev of Aston University, a specialist in optoelectronics, added: "The proposed structures could enjoy a variety of applications in optoelectronics and serve as optical signal processors, modulators, selective filters and antireflection coatings."
Potential applications of the materials and their unique properties include: smaller and smarter optical lenses, miniature lasers that can be built in computer chips and ultra-sensitive chemical and bio-detectors.
Source: University of Manchester
Related stories:
Hubble sees magnetic monster in erupting galaxy
NGC 1275 is one of the closest giant elliptical galaxies and lies at the centre of the Perseus Cluster of galaxies. It is an active galaxy, hosting a supermassive black hole at its core, which blows bubbles of radio-wave emitting material into the surrounding cluster gas. Its most spectacular feature is the lacy filigree of gaseous filaments reaching out beyond the galaxy into the multi-million degree X-ray emitting gas that fills the cluster.
Invisibility cloak now within sight: scientists (Update 2)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have for the first time engineered 3-D materials that can reverse the natural direction of visible and near-infrared light, a development that could help form the basis for higher resolution optical imaging, nanocircuits for high-powered computers, and, to the delight of science-fiction and fantasy buffs, cloaking devices that could render objects invisible to the human eye.
Quantum Chaos Unveiled?
(PhysOrg.com) -- A University of Utah study is shedding light on an important, unsolved physics problem: the relationship between chaos theory - which is based on 300-year-old Newtonian physics - and the modern theory of quantum mechanics.
Scientists Shed Light on Heavy Electrons, Suggest New View of Superconductivity
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of California, Irvine, and the University of California, Davis have proposed a new characterization for the bizarre behavior of certain super-cooled materials--many that act as superconductors--which suggests a paradigm shift in the way scientists understand superconductivity.
Shimmering ferroelectric domains
Ferroelectric materials are named after ferromagnetic ones because they behave in a similar way. The main difference: these materials are not magnetic, but permanently electrically polarized. They have great importance for data storage technology and novel piezoelectric devices. Dresden scientists were able to produce microscopic images of ferroelectric domains - tiny regions of a ferroelectric material -, where the electric polarization points into different directions. These results were published in the journal
Physical Review Letters recently.
Heat Switch for Fuel Filler Flaps
Just in time – the car coasts into the gas station on its last drop of fuel. In order to fill the tank, the driver first has to release the fuel filler flap, usually by pushing a button inside the vehicle. The actual releasing is performed by a small servo motor, several cogwheels and various springs, more than ten separate parts in all.
Can we freeze time? Using lasers to film the secret lives of atoms -- frame by frame
Cutting edge laser 'cameras' which can film the super-fast movements of electrons inside materials are the subject of an Imperial College exhibit at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 2008, which opens to the public today (1 July).
Study Finds New Properties in Non-Magnetic Materials
A team of Penn State researchers has shown for the first time that the entire class of non-magnetic materials, such as those used in some computer components, could have considerably more uses than scientists had thought. The findings are important because they reveal previously unknown information about the structure of these materials, expanding the number of properties that they potentially could have. A material's properties, such as electrical conductivity and mechanical strength, are what determine its usefulness. The research will be published in the journal
Physical Review Letters.
