metamaterial

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an engineered material whose electromagnetic, acoustic, or mechanical properties derive not from the chemical composition of its constituent atoms but from the geometry, scale, and arrangement of artificially designed subwavelength structural elements, or meta-atoms, that interact with waves in ways not found in naturally occurring substances; metamaterials can exhibit negative refractive index, enabling phenomena such as superlensing beyond the diffraction limit and electromagnetic cloaking; acoustic metamaterials can block sound with near-perfect efficiency or bend sound waves around objects; the field has transformed optical physics and materials design by demonstrating that structure, not chemistry, can be the primary driver of material response