Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Metamaterials are engineered structures designed to interact with electromagnetic radiation in a desired fashion. They usually comprise an array of structures smaller than the wavelength of interest. These so-called meta-atoms are used to construct systems that interact with the electric and magnetic components of light in a way that natural materials do not.