Birefringent cadmium–telluride-based metamaterial

A CdTe-based optical metamaterial, with large induced optical birefringence (4%), has been produced and its optical properties fully characterized and modeled over the spectral range 1500– 450 nm. This metamaterial, which is related to mesoporous silica, is made using electrochemical deposition in the presence of a lyotropic liquid crystal template. This process produces a stoichiometric CdTe film containing a hexagonal array of $\sim 4.2\mathrm{nm}$ cylindrical pores with interpore separation $\sim 6.5\mathrm{nm}$ . A model of the dielectric properties of the films indicates that their birefringence can be entirely attributed to the film’s nanoporosity.