A group of researchers from Southeast University in Nanjing, China have developed a new material that can bend and direct EM waves as an antenna does. This new material is being described as the first broadband transformation optics metasurface lens.
The material was constructed in a lab by covering a dielectric material with tiny, metallic, u-shaped elements and found to mimic Luneburg lens. Luneburg lenses can direct light or incoming EM waves to an off-axis point at the edge instead of directly in front or behind it like in normal lenses. This new material could be used to develop antennas that are flat, ultra low-profile or conform to the curved surfaces.
Read more about this breakthrough technology being researched at the Southeast University.
