Active Metamaterials with Negative Static Electric Susceptibility

Researchers in the University of Oxford's Materials and Engineering departments, and the University of Warwick and Queen Mary University London have developed a new approach to the argument that static electric susceptibility must be positive 'in all bodies', by using a new design concept based on active metamaterials with internal power sources.

Using this approach, effective values were readily achieved at room temperature and pressure, and were tunable through a defined range of stability, resulting in experimentally-determined magnitudes of over one thousand times greater than those previously predicted.

This approach provides potential for related fields, such as stable electrostatic levitation.