未來的世界 由超材料建造

Plastics. Computers. Metamaterials?

塑料。電腦。超材料？

Almost half a century after Dustin Hoffman was taken aside in “The Graduate” and given the famous “one word” line about the future, it may be time to update the script again. And metamaterials appear to have the same potential to transform entire industries. Over the past 15 years or so, scientists have learned how to construct materials that bend light waves, as well as radar, radio, sound and even seismic waves, in ways that do not naturally occur.

在電影《畢業生》(The Graduate)中，有人將達斯汀·霍夫曼(Dustin Hoffman)叫到一旁，對他說出了那句著名的“一個詞”未來預言。現在距離電影上映已過去將近半個世紀，或許是時候更新劇本了。超材料似乎也具有那種可以改變整個產業的潛力。在過去大約15年的時間裏，科學家已經學會如何製造能夠以非自然的方式使光波、雷達波、無線電波、聲波，甚至地震波彎曲的材料。

First theorized in 1967 by the Russian physicist Victor Veselago and invented in 1999 by a group led by the physicist David R. Smith, the new design approach was first seen as a curiosity that hinted at science fiction applications like invisibility cloaks.

俄羅斯物理學家維克托·韋謝拉戈(Victor Veselago)於1967年首次在理論上提出設想，物理學家戴維·R·史密斯(David R. Smith)領導的研究小組於1999年將理論轉變爲現實。這種新方法起初被視作科幻小說中提到的稀奇之物，比如隱形披風。

But today, researchers have gained a better understanding of the science and are generating innovations in an array of fields, including radio antennas, radar, cosmetics, soundproofing and walls that help protect against earthquakes and tsunamis.

但如今，研究人員已經更好地瞭解了這項技術，正在各個領域進行創新，製造產品，比如無線電天線、雷達、化妝品、隔音材料，以及能抵禦地震和海嘯的牆壁。

Last year, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus announced that it was joining with Lamda Guard, a Canadian company, to test a metamaterial-based coating for cockpit windows to protect pilots in commercial aircraft from being blinded by laser pointers.

去年，飛機制造商空客(Airbus)宣佈將與加拿大Lamda Guard公司合作，測試一種由超材料製成的駕駛艙窗戶保護層，以使商用飛機飛行員的視力免受激光指示器的影響。

A key innovation behind metamaterials is that they are constructed with subcomponents that are smaller than the wavelength of the type of radiation they are designed to manipulate. The precise, often-microscopic patterns can then be used to manipulate the waves in unnatural ways.

超材料背後的關鍵創新在於他們是由子部件製成的，這種子部件小於它們將會控制的放射線的波長。這種精密的、通常十分微小的子部件可以用來以非自然的方式控制波動。

The implications of these new materials can be seen in two prototype radar antennas being designed at Echodyne, a start-up firm here that has been funded with backing from Bill Gates, a Microsoft co-founder, and Madrona Venture Group.

可以從Echodyne正在設計的兩種雷達天線原型機中看到這些新材料的影響，這家初創公司獲得了微軟(Microsoft)聯合創始人比爾·蓋茨(Bill Gates)及麥德羅納風險投資集團(Madrona Venture Group)提供的資金。

There are obvious markets for the technology in automotive safety and self-driving cars. Google’s advanced experimental vehicles use a costly mechanical laser-based device called a lidar to create an instantaneous high-resolution map of objects around the car. Based on a rapidly spinning laser, Google’s lidars still cost roughly $8,000. The radars being designed by Echodyne may soon be able to create similar maps at a much lower cost.

汽車安全及自動駕駛汽車方面的技術明顯存在市場。谷歌先進的實驗性汽車能夠利用昂貴的激光機械設備——被稱作激光雷達——創建一份有關車周圍環境的即時高清地圖。在快速旋轉激光的基礎上製成的谷歌激光雷達售價約爲8000美元（約合4.97萬元人民幣）。Echodyne正在設計的雷達可能很快就會創建類似的地圖，但成本會低很多。

Echodyne is the third metamaterials company to be spun out of Intellectual Ventures, an investment and patent firm created by Nathan Myhrvold, a physicist who was Microsoft’s chief technology officer. Two other firms, Kymeta and Evolv Technology, are working on other metamaterial-based applications.

Echodyne是高智發明(Intellectual Ventures)剝離出來的第三家超材料公司。高智發明是物理學家內森·梅爾沃德(Nathan Myhrvold)創辦的投資和專利事務所，他曾在微軟公司擔任首席技術官。其他兩家公司Kymeta和Evolv Technology正在研究超材料的其他應用方式。

Evolv is pursuing higher-performance airport-security-scanning technology, and Kymeta recently announced a partnership with Intelsat to design land-based and satellite-based intelligent antennas that would greatly increase the capacity and speed of next-generation satellite Internet services.

Evolv希望開發出性能更高的機場安全掃描技術。Kymeta最近宣佈與Intelsat公司合作，共同設計一種安裝在地面和衛星上的智能天線，可以大大提高下一代衛星互聯網服務的容量和速度。

Xiang Zhang, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, runs a laboratory that has pioneered a number of applications for metamaterials, including so-called optical “superlenses” that may one day surpass the power of today’s microscopes.

張翔是加州大學伯克利分校的機械工程教授，他領導的實驗室在超材料的很多應用中處於前沿位置，其中包括光學“超級透鏡”，有一天這種透鏡的能力可能會超過目前的顯微鏡。

Dr. Zhang says he hears from many military contractors and commercial companies that are interested in pursuing metamaterial applications.

張翔說，很多軍事承包商和商業公司都對超材料的應用很感興趣。

Several years ago, he said, he received several calls from what he thought was Loral Space & Communications, a military contractor. He then learned that the caller was the French cosmetics and beauty firm L’Oréal, which was interested in metamaterials that might be used to change appearance or to create a more effective sunblock.

他說，數年前，他接到幾個電話，本以爲對方是軍事承包商勞拉空間與通信公司(Loral Space& Communications)，結果發現打電話的是法國化妝品公司歐萊雅(L’Oréal)，該公司對超材料改變人體形象，或者調製出更有效的防曬霜的潛力很感興趣。

Dr. Zhang and others are pursuing applications that could drastically lower the cost and increase the performance of optical computer networks.

張翔等人正在研究如何把超材料應用到大幅降低光學計算機網絡的成本，並提高其性能上。

In 2012, the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute published a paper with South Korean scientists describing a metamaterial-based electro-optical modulator made from a sheet of graphene just a single atom thick that was able to switch lightwaves at terahertz frequencies.

2012年，伯克利納米科學和納米工程學研究所(Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute)發表了一篇論文，韓國科學家在文中描述了一種超材料電光調節器，它使用了厚度只有一個原子直徑的石墨烯片製作，可以用於太赫茲光波的開關。

More recently, a group at City College of New York, led by the physicist Vinod Menon, demonstrated light emission from ultrafast-switching LEDs based on metamaterials. Together, such innovations could make possible optical computer networks far faster than today’s gigabit networks.

近來，紐約市立學院(City College of New York)物理學家維諾德·梅農(Vinod Menon)率領的一個團隊，展示了基於超材料的高速開關LED的發光。把這樣的創新結合起來，就有可能研製出一種光學計算機網絡，比現在的千兆網絡遠遠更快。

Indeed metamaterials are still finding their way into new fields. Papers have recently been published that explore the idea of using metamaterial-based “walls” to dampen the seismic waves in earthquakes or the effects of tsunamis.

事實上，超材料還在陸續進入一些新的領域。最近發表的一些論文，探索了使用超材料“護牆”，在地震或海嘯中衰減地震波影響的想法。

In 2013, scientists at the French construction firm Menard published a paper on , an automated electronic archive for research articles, describing a test of a novel way of counteracting the effects of an earthquake from a metamaterial grid of empty cylindrical columns bored into soil. They reported that they were able to measure a significant dampening of a simulated earthquake with the array of columns.

2013年，法國建築公司梅納爾(Menard)的科學家在自動化研究文獻庫上發表論文，描述了對一種新方法進行的測試。這種方法是把超材料製作的中空柱狀欄杆插在土裏，以抵消地震波的影響。論文稱，他們的測量顯示，在經過這些柱狀欄杆後，一場模擬的地震出現了顯著衰減。

New applications for metamaterials are certain to emerge in coming years, Dr. Zhang said.

張翔說，未來幾年內，超材料一定會出現新的應用方式。

“It’s beyond our imagination right now,” he said. “But we will push the frontiers.”

“目前它是超出我們想象的，”他說。“但我們將繼續推進它的研究。”