Mar. 20, 2006 – The Wake Forest University Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials has been selected to receive a $5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program grant from the Department of Defense to develop new negative index of refraction materials that have potential for a range of uses in military and civilian life.

The five-year grant teams researchers from Wake Forest’s nanotechnology center with Kent State University to develop these new “negative index” or “left-handed” materials. The new and unusual materials show promise for use in high-performance aircraft. Researchers anticipate that negative index materials will improve surveillance and communications capabilities, improving connectivity between air and land in the battle space.

Negative index materials bend light in the opposite direction from normal optical materials like glass. These properties are built into the materials using nano-engineering. The materials offer a wide variety of applications, such as flat, apertureless lenses, “perfect” lenses with sub-wavelength resolution, novel antennas, new beam steering devices, sensor protection strategies, novel band gap materials and high density optical storage.