Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Focusing of Light in the Eye

Focusing of Light in the Eye

Light rays enter the eye through the cornea, a transparent dome-shaped tissue that is the eye's outermost layer. The cornea bends or refracts, light rays traveling to the pupil. The shape of the cornea determines how much of the light is bent and whether the image will be focused correctly on the retina at the back of the eye. Once the light has passed through both refraction layers, it converges into a single focal point onto a small area. This is where photoreceptors start transforming...

Light Acquisition

Light Acquisition

In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.

Light as Energy

Light as Energy

The energy required to carry out photosynthesis is light— typically electromagnetic radiation from the sun. The range of all possible wavelengths is known as the electromagnetic spectrum.
Photons
A photon is a discrete electromagnetic particle or bundle of energy. Photons are characterized by their frequency, wavelength, and amplitude, similar to the properties of a wave. Waves with higher frequencies transmit more energy and have shorter wavelengths than longer wavelengths that transmit less...

The Wave Nature of Light

The Wave Nature of Light

The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles traveling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion.

Photoelectric Effect

Photoelectric Effect

When light of a particular wavelength strikes a metal surface, electrons are emitted. This is called the photoelectric effect. The minimum frequency of light that can cause such emission of electrons is called the threshold frequency, which is specific to the metal. Light with a frequency lower than the threshold frequency, even if it is of high intensity, cannot initiate the emission of electrons. However, when the frequency is higher than the threshold value, the number of electrons ejected...

Dual Nature of Electromagnetic (EM) Radiation

Dual Nature of Electromagnetic (EM) Radiation

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation consists of electric and magnetic field components oscillating in planes perpendicular to each other and mutually perpendicular to radiation propagation through space. EM radiation can be classified as a wave, characterized by the properties of waves such as wavelength (denoted as λ) and frequency (represented by ν).
Wavelength is the distance between two consecutive peaks (the highest point) or troughs (the lowest point) in the wave. Frequency is the number of...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Bound states in the continuum in plasmonic structures.

Reports on progress in physics. Physical Society (Great Britain)·2026

Same author

All-optical tuning of dielectric metasurfaces infiltrated with dye-doped liquid crystals.

Nanoscale·2026

Same author

Helical metasurfaces based on topological surface states in three-dimensional photonic topological insulators.

Nature materials·2026

Same author

Enhanced biochemical sensing with high-Q transmission resonances in free-standing membrane metasurfaces.

Optica·2025

Same author

Topological Photonics on a Small Scale.

Small science·2025

Same author

Non-Hermitian singularities in scattering spectra of Mie resonators.

Science advances·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 2026

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Published on: September 25, 2020

Metamaterials controlled with light.

Ilya V Shadrivov¹, Polina V Kapitanova, Stanislav I Maslovski

¹Nonlinear Physics Centre, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.

Physical Review Letters

|September 26, 2012

Summary

Scientists developed functional metamaterials with properties controlled by visible light patterns. This allows for precise adjustments to material parameters, enabling novel applications in wave manipulation.

More Related Videos

Fabricating Metamaterials Using the Fiber Drawing Method

Fabricating Metamaterials Using the Fiber Drawing Method

Published on: October 18, 2012

Demonstration of Equal-Intensity Beam Generation by Dielectric Metasurfaces

Demonstration of Equal-Intensity Beam Generation by Dielectric Metasurfaces

Published on: June 7, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Published on: September 25, 2020

Fabricating Metamaterials Using the Fiber Drawing Method

Fabricating Metamaterials Using the Fiber Drawing Method

Published on: October 18, 2012

Demonstration of Equal-Intensity Beam Generation by Dielectric Metasurfaces

Demonstration of Equal-Intensity Beam Generation by Dielectric Metasurfaces

Published on: June 7, 2019

Area of Science:

Metamaterials Science
Electromagnetism
Optics

Background:

Metamaterials offer unique electromagnetic properties not found in natural materials.
Controlling metamaterial properties often requires complex fabrication or external stimuli.
Remote and dynamic control remains a significant challenge in metamaterial applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce and experimentally validate the concept of functional metamaterials with light-tunable properties.
To demonstrate the ability to create arbitrary gradients in effective material parameters using light.
To explore applications in controlling electromagnetic waves, specifically in the microwave regime.

Main Methods:

Designing and fabricating microwave metamaterials capable of interacting with visible light.
Utilizing patterned visible light illumination to remotely control material properties.
Experimentally characterizing the metamaterials' response to controlled illumination for wave manipulation.

Main Results:

Successful demonstration of light-tunable functional metamaterials.
Achieved arbitrary gradients of effective material parameters by adjusting light illumination profiles.
Showcased unique functionalities including reflection, shaping, and focusing of electromagnetic waves.

Conclusions:

Functional metamaterials with remotely controlled properties via visible light are feasible.
Light-patterning offers a versatile method for tuning metamaterial parameters dynamically.
These light-tunable metamaterials present promising avenues for advanced electromagnetic wave control.