#metamaterial

Ok now who else has gotten completely smashed with their friends and discussed physics instead? Because that's what this next story is about.

Awhile back a buddy of mine and I were having some drinks, the night started off as usual, we chatted, drank and listened to music.

However he had a bowl of candy and I started chewing on a gumball candy. At which point something clicked in my buddies brain and he said. "Hey, chew that up until it's soft and gummy I want to show you something cool"

So I complied and did I chewed until it was soft and rolled into a ball with my fingers after that's done my buddy says "Ok now flick it"

I knew what he was getting at, the little gummy ball was going to get hard to moment I flicked it, regardless I still flicked it "ok how did it feel? It got super hard right?"

"Yeah, but I knew it would do that" I responded. And that's when my buddy hit me with "Yeah, but do you know WHY it got super hard the moment you hit it?" Honestly, no I didn't know the reason and was curious on where this was going.

"The reason why is because it's a metamaterial! It changes its properties due to outside changes! Scientists are still looking into it but basically some artificial materials will change their density and structure with enough external force or temperature. The gumball is a perfect example. Look you can swirl it around, stretch it and it's stays soft and malleable right? But when you add enough force it completely changes and hardens in an instant! Don't you get how awesome that is?"

Are Cloaking Devices Coming? Metalens-Shaped Light May Lead The Way

“The biggest challenge facing a real-life cloak has been the incorporation of a large variety of wavelengths, as the cloak's material must vary from point-to-point to bend (and then unbend) the light by the proper amount. Based on the materials discovered so far, we haven't yet managed to penetrate the visible light portion of the spectrum with a cloak. This new advance in metalenses, however, seems to indicate that if you can do it for a single, narrow wavelength, you can apply this nanofin technology to extend the wavelength covered tremendously. This first application to achromatic lenses covered nearly the full visible-light spectrum (from 470 to 670 nm), and fusing this with advances in metamaterials would make visible-light cloaking devices a reality.”

What would it take to have a true cloaking device? You’d need some way to bend the light coming from all across the electromagnetic spectrum around your cloaked object, and have it propagate off in the same direction once it moved past you. To an outside observer, it would simply seem like the cloaked object wasn’t there, and they’d only view the world in front of and behind them. Even with the recent advances that have been made in metamaterials, we have not yet been able to realize this dream in three dimensions, covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and from all directions. But a new advance in metalens technology might get you the full electromagnetic spectrum after all, as they appear to have solved the problem of chromatic aberration with a light, small, and inexpensive solution. If we can combine these two technologies, metalenses and metamaterials, we just might realize the dream of a true invisibility cloak.

//ANOMALY.07 “Transmuting form from one to another, sound to light, light to solid form.”

Slightly different metamaterial bricks are combined to create the desired acoustic field. Interact Lab, University of Sussex

You may have heard of metamaterials, which have recently allowed scientists to bend light around objects, essentially creating invisibility cloaks – but what if metamaterials could manipulate sound instead?

Researchers at the Universities of Sussex and Bristol, UK, have just developed materials that do exactly that, and they could have significant applications in medical imaging, personal audio and material testing.

Manufactured from thermoplastics using a 3D printer with an ultra-precise resolution of 25μm (about half the diameter of a human hair), the team designed small coiling ‘bricks’ that are encoded with a specific phase delay and then assembled to create surfaces to generate a desired diffraction-limited acoustic field.

Size would be a significant factor in the metamaterials’ application – large versions could be used to direct or focus sound to a particular location, while much smaller bricks could focus high-intensity ultrasound to destroy tumours. In both cases, the metamaterial layer would be fitted to existing loudspeaker technology and, the team claims, could be manufactured quickly and inexpensively.

The global metamaterial market is projected to reach USD 5.45 billion by 2032, growing from USD 0.49 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 49.5% during the forecast period. Major factors driving the growth of the metamaterial market include increasing demand for advanced electromagnetic wave control, high-frequency signal manipulation, and miniaturization across the aerospace & defense, telecommunications, automotive, semiconductor, and consumer electronics industries. Additionally, the adoption of next-generation technologies, such as electronically steerable surfaces, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and solid-state beam steering, is rising due to their ability to deliver higher performance, improved efficiency, and compact system designs in complex operating environments. These innovations enable enhanced antenna gain, improved radar resolution, reduced interference, and greater system reliability, supporting advanced applications in satellite communications, autonomous systems, and sensing platforms. Moreover, growing integration of metamaterial-based components with digital control systems, simulation-driven design tools, and system-level architectures is accelerating commercialization. For example, modern communication and defense platforms increasingly leverage metamaterials to optimize signal performance, reduce size, weight, and power requirements, and improve overall operational efficiency.

By product, the lenses & optical modules segment is projected to record the highest CAGR during the forecast period.

The lenses & optical modules segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period, driven by the growing demand for advanced light manipulation, miniaturization, and real-time optical performance across multiple industries. As applications increasingly shift toward high-resolution imaging, LiDAR, augmented and virtual reality, and advanced sensing systems, metamaterial-based optical components enable thinner form factors, reduced aberrations, and improved efficiency compared to conventional optics. Additionally, strong adoption across telecommunications, consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare imaging, and semiconductor inspection is accelerating demand. At the same time,  advancements in nanofabrication, scalable manufacturing, and system-level integration are expanding commercial viability. As digitalization and next-generation optical architectures continue to evolve, metamaterial-enabled lenses and optical modules are becoming critical components for high-performance, compact, and intelligent optical systems.

By end user, the automotive segment is projected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period.

The automotive segment is projected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period, driven by the industry’s strong focus on vehicle safety, connectivity, and autonomous driving capabilities. Additionally, the growing adoption of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), in-vehicle radar, LiDAR, and high-frequency communication systems is accelerating the demand for metamaterial-based antennas, sensors, and beam steering modules. Metamaterials enable compact designs, improved signal performance, and reduced interference, supporting integration into space-constrained vehicle platforms. As automotive manufacturers scale electric, connected, and autonomous vehicle production, the demand for high-performance and cost-efficient metamaterial components continues to strengthen.

The US is projected to account for the largest market share during the forecast period.

The US is projected to account for the largest share of the metamaterial market during the forecast period. The dominance of the market is driven by its strong aerospace and defense ecosystem, advanced telecommunications infrastructure, and leadership in semiconductor and high-frequency electronics manufacturing. Significant investments in satellite communications, radar modernization, 5G and future wireless networks, and autonomous systems are accelerating the adoption of metamaterial-based antennas, sensors, and beam steering solutions. Additionally, large-scale public and private funding initiatives, including support for domestic semiconductor fabrication and advanced materials R&D, are strengthening commercialization efforts. With robust innovation pipelines, strong industry-academia collaboration, and early deployment of next-generation technologies, the US continues to remain the most dominant market globally for metamaterials.

Major companies operating in the metamaterial market include Kymeta Corporation (US), PIVOTAL COMMWARE (US), Echodyne Corp. (US), Lumotive (US), Radi-Cool, Inc. (US), Metalenz, Inc. (US), ALCAN Systems GmbH i.L. (Germany), Greenerwave (France), Edgehog Advanced Technologies Inc. (Canada), Metamagnetics Inc. (US), and Fractal Antenna Systems, Inc. (US).