Overview on metamaterial: History, types and applications

Metamaterial has received great interest during the last ten years in distinct field, owing of its key characteristics such as enhancement in bandwidth, radiated power, directivity and controls the direction of electromagnetic radiation. It is a smart or a new class of manmade invented materials that can achieve electromagnetic properties that do not occur naturally, such as electromagnetic cloaking or negative index of refraction. These materials exhibit negative value of permittivity, permeability and refractive index. In addition, metamaterial extract their properties from their structure rather than the material of which they are composed of. Further, these materials exhibit excellent design flexibility with their customized properties and their tunability under external stimuli. Due to these attractive properties, metamaterials have enabled the development of new devices and concepts and possible utilization in diverse novel applications. Thus, metamaterials find wide application in medical sector, automotive, aerospace, and many other devices (biosensor, crowd control, absorbers, antennas, optical filters, infrastructure monitoring, smart solar power management, energy harvesters and even shielding structure from earthquakes etc). Hence the aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of different metamaterial, historical development and their applications in different sectors. In addition, perspective about the challenges and future scope for development of metamaterial is also presented, so that this article could become the torch bearer for the new researchers working in the area of advanced materials.