Observation of synthetic moving effect in metamaterials

Qingdong Yang; Zhongfu Li; Xinhua Wen; Oubo You; Teruya Ishihara; Xiaobo Yin; Shuang Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41377-026-02361-y

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Observation of synthetic moving effect in metamaterials

Original Articles

- Observation of synthetic moving effect in metamaterials
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 8, Pages: 2892-2900(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.New Cornerstone Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  2.Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  3.State Key Laboratory of Optical Quantum Materials, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
  4.Materials Innovation Institute for Life Sciences and Energy (MILES), HKU-SIRI, Shenzhen, China
  5.Quantum Science Center of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, 3 Binlang Road, Shenzhen, China
  6.Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Author bio：
  
  Xinhua Wen (xhwen614@gmail.com)
  Shuang Zhang (shuzhang@hku.hk)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-026-02361-y
  CLC：
- Received：08 October 2025，
  
  Revised：2026-04-16，
  
  Accepted：20 May 2026，
  
  Online First：08 June 2026，
  
  Published：31 August 2026
- Accepted：
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Yang, Q. D. et al. Observation of synthetic moving effect in metamaterials. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2892-2900 (2026).
DOI：

Yang, Q. D. et al. Observation of synthetic moving effect in metamaterials. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 2892-2900 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-026-02361-y.

摘要

Abstract

When light propagates through a flowing transparent fluid

the refractive index it experiences depends on its propagation direction relative to the flow direction. This leads to different phase delays for light traveling along or against the flow. The moving effect

which results from the cross-coupling between electric and magnetic responses in a specific way

is only detectable over a considerable distance within the moving medium

because the fluid’s velocity is much smaller than the speed of light

in realistic systems. In the context of metamaterials – artificial subwavelength structures – it may be possible to manipulate electromagnetic fields to mimic the moving medium without physical motion. Here we demonstrate a passive metamaterial that achieves a significant synthetic moving effect. The metamaterial is composed of artificial metallic structures and gyromagnetic materials

and is meticulously designed based on symmetry and electromagnetic considerations to achieve significant pure bianisotropic moving coupling. Our experiment reveals for the first time a gigantic moving response of the metamaterial with an effective velocity reaching 0.3c. The inherent strong non-reciprocity of this moving response opens the door to a variety of photonic devices

like polarization-independent gyrators and isolators.

关键词

Keywords

references

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