Have you ever noticed the way light refracts when passing through a transparent object? That same principle became the basis for many of today's lenses.

In a recent study conducted by Princeton University scientists, a way to bend light in a manner which can aid advances in areas such as high-speed communications, medical diagnostics, and even detection of terrorist threats may have been just discovered.

The new principle is based on a new substance called "metamaterials", which are made out of metals and semiconductors arranged in very small alternating patterns that modify their collective properties. This allows them to refract light in the opposite direction and allows new applications that cannot be accomplished by conventional means.

Metamaterials possess a negative index of refraction on a completely opposite scale compared to normal lenses. So what does this mean exactly? One of the most practical uses for this would be the possibility of manufacturing flat lenses instead of curved ones, which are far cheaper and easier to make considering the availability of the materials needed to make metamaterials.

Also, less light is lost when using metamaterials. This extends the possibility of creating lenses with a magnifying power many times over the current microscopes we have. The study of mid-infrared lenses made out of metamaterials is already being conducted by a multi-institutional research center called the Mid-Infrared Technologies for Health and the Environment (MIRTHE).

MIRTHE, lastly, is looking into the possibility of using a new type of laser that relies on mid-infrared lenses for medical purposes, as well as a way to study the environment by detecting trace amounts of gases in the atmosphere and human breath.