Flexible microstructured and textured metamaterials

摘要

This invention disclosure addresses the fabrication of deformable microstructured and textured sheets of transparent materials such as glass. The flexible structures have islands of arbitrary geometrical shapes interconnected by springs. Structuring is performed using ultrafast laser pulses and specially designed post-processing. The fabrication process does not create any cracks perpendicular to the cut lines, and therefore, resulting deformable structures are capable of sustaining static and cyclic in-plane tensile and compressive forces, bending moments and twisting torques. Flexible structures of this invention, fabricated using thin sheets of glass, can deform to complex surfaces through stretching, compression and folding in all directions.