US Patent 7283716 - Metamaterials in flexible polymer

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In recent years there has been an increase in interest of negative refractive index materials which are usually artificial periodic structures having a negative permeability and permittivity that are capable of new or improved optical properties. This patent teaches an interesting construction of such a negative index material that allows for tuning of the materials properties by embedding an array of dielectric material in a flexible polymer which may be deformed by a MEMS or other actuator. Claims 1 and 18 read:

1. A device comprising: a photonic crystal having a periodic array of dielectric material embedded in a flexible polymer, said photonic crystal exhibiting negative refraction; and means for applying a variable amount of force to said photonic crystal to induce physical changes in the crystal structure of said photonic crystal.

18. A device comprising: a photonic crystal having an array of silicon pillars embedded in a flexible polymer, said photonic crystal exhibitin negative refraction; and at least one micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) actuator coupled to said photonic crystal, said actuator configured to apply variable force to said photonic crystal to induce physical changes in the crystal structure of said photonic crystal, and to provide substantially uniform stretching of said photonic crystal.