A Transparent, High Refractive Index and Abbe Number Polymer for Visible Metalens by High Fidelity Nanoimprinting.

Authors

Jianrong Guo, Hongbin Chen, Ziyu Wang, Yuan-Yuan Cheng, Ji Chao Fu, Siqi Liu, Jun Hu, Binting Huang, Shiyang Shao, Yuanda Liu, Fangfang Huang, Chaobin He

Published in

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.). Pages e74791. Aug 25, 2026. Epub Aug 25, 2026.

Abstract

Simultaneously achieving high visible transparency, high refractive index (n), and a large Abbe number (υ_D) in organic polymers remains a fundamental challenge. Here, a facile and efficient dual sulfur-mediated Michael addition strategy is reported to synthesize transparent high refractive index polymers (HRIPs) with large υ_D. By combining main backbone de-conjugation to preserve visible transparency with rational side-chain engineering for n-tuning, the optimal polymer (H4) achieves an ultrahigh n of 1.86 at 589 nm alongside a large υ_D of 34.93 and robust stability. Moreover, polymer H4 exhibits remarkable performance in nanoimprint lithography, replicating features down to 75 nm with aspect ratios up to 8.5 and a low volumetric shrinkage of only 3.23%. Notably, a nanoimprinted metalens prototype fabricated from H4 delivers a relative focusing efficiency of 49.8% at 550 nm (NA = 0.5), approaching the theoretical design value (52.94%). Therefore, the high refractive index polymer H4 bridges molecular design and manufacturable meta-optics, showing tremendous potential in scalable, flexible, next-generation photonic platforms by translating side-chain polarizability engineering into practical wavefront control.

PMID:
42643016
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 26 Aug 2026.

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