"MATERIALS: Metamaterial passes visible wavelengths "

All natural materials bend electromagnetic radiation--from microwaves to visible light--in the same predictable direction: away from a line perpendicular to their surface, or away from "normal." On the other hand, metamaterials--exotic, artificially created materials with optical properties not found in nature--substitute periodic mechanical structures that can force a photon to travel a path where it bends toward normal, thereby enabling a flat lens to nevertheless focus light. For the last few years, researchers have demonstrated that shorter and shorter wavelengths of light can be focused by metamaterials with more and more closely spaced periodic structures. Now, researchers at the Department of Energy's Ames (Iowa) Laboratory say they have demonstrated the world's first metamaterial for visible wavelengths.
Text: http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196802365