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New Bilayer Metasurface Opens New Frontiers in Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology

Business Honor
03 April, 2025

Harvard engineers develop a groundbreaking bilayer metasurface, advancing nanotechnology and light manipulation capabilities.

Harvard engineers have made a major breakthrough in nanotechnology with the development of a revolutionary bilayer metasurface that is breaking new ground in controlling light at the nanoscale. In a paper published in Nature Communications, the researchers have made a major breakthrough in metasurface technology, in which conventional optical components are replaced with ultra-thin, nanoscale structures that control light in entirely new ways.

Since almost a decade ago, metasurfaces have transformed optics by allowing compact, lightweight, and multifunctional applications ranging from augmented reality to imaging systems. Recently, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have extended the boundaries further by developing a device with not one, but two layers of stacked titanium dioxide nanostructures. This new system provides a heightened ability to shape light's wavelength, phase, and polarization—the basic properties previously difficult to work with at the same time.

"It's an achievement in nanotechnology of the highest order," said senior author Federico Capasso, a nanotechnology leader at SEAS. "This bilayer structure creates new opportunities for optical systems, making it possible for new structures to be created of light with unimaginable precision.

The new bilayer metasurfaces have immense potential for future applications, especially in the design of multifunctional optical devices that might, for instance, display different images from either side. This development overcomes past fabrication hurdles and renders the metasurfaces more feasible for widespread application. The ability of the team to fabricate these multi-level nanostructures has the potential to transform fields such as optical computing, communications, and sensing.

The creation of these new materials is anticipated to drive the next wave of optical technologies, improving light manipulation ability throughout the visible and near-infrared range and enabling the continued development of nanotechnology in practical applications.