Martin Wegener plenary talk: Three-dimensional Metamaterials Made By Direct Laser Writing

Three-dimensional (3D) direct laser writing (DLW) has become a commercially available workhorse and can be seen as the 3D counterpart of planar electron-beam lithography. However, DLW was previously subject to seemingly fundamental limitations regarding (i) spatial resolution due to the Abbe diffraction barrier, (ii) accessible sample heights due to finite microscope-lens working distances, and (iii) writing speed. In his talk, "Three-dimensional Metamaterials Made By Direct Laser Writing," Martin Wegener gives an introduction and presents the state-of-the-art. (i) Stimulated-emission-depletion (STED) 3D DLW has recently broken the diffraction barrier. For example, this has enabled the first 3D visible-frequency polarization-independent invisibility cloak and the first visible-frequency 3D complete-photonic-band-gap material. (ii) 3D "dip-in" DLW has enabled the first 3D pentamode mechanical metamaterial.

Wegener is a professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) (Germany). In 2007, he co-founded the start-up company Nanoscribe GmbH.