Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 23, 2026

Fabricating Metamaterials Using the Fiber Drawing Method
Published on: October 18, 2012
Optical wave retarder based on metal-nanostripe metamaterial
Abstract:
Wave retarders, including quarter- and half-wave plates, are used in many optical systems for polarization conversion. They are usually realized with anisotropic crystalline materials. However, much thinner and possibly also less expensive wave plates can be made of micro- and nanostructures. We present a new way to create thin-film optical retarders based on a highly birefringent metamaterial. The wave plate is capable of low-loss, broadband operation, which we verify both numerically and experimentally. Owing to the remarkable simplicity of our design, the wave plates operating on the proposed principle can meet the requirements of large-scale production and find widespread application in optics and photonics.
Related Concept Videos
Retarders
The function of retarders is to delay the setting of concrete, and this effect can be measured using a penetration test. The retardation process involves adding...
The Wave Nature of Light
Alkali Metals
Table 1: Properties of the alkali metals
Bonding in Metals
Metallic Solids
All metallic solids exhibit high thermal and electrical conductivity, metallic luster, and malleability....
Metal-Ligand Bonds
In these complexes, transition metals form coordinate covalent bonds, a kind of Lewis acid-base interaction in which both of the electrons in the bond are contributed by a donor (Lewis base) to an electron acceptor (Lewis acid). The Lewis acid in...

