The 2026 active metamaterials roadmap

Simon A. Pope; Diane J. Roth; Aakash Bansal; Mostafa Mousa; Ashkan Rezanejad; Antonio E. Forte; Geoff R. Nash; Lawrence Singleton; Felix Langfeldt; Jordan Cheer; Stephen Henthorn; Ian R. Hooper; Euan Hendry; Alex W. Powell; Anton Souslov; Eric Plum; Kai Sun; C. H. De Groot; Otto L. Muskens; Joe Shields; Carlota Ruiz De Galarreta; C. David Wright; Coskun Kocabas; M. Said Ergoktas; Jianling Xiao; Sebastian A. Schulz; Andrea Di Falco; Alexey V. Krasavin; Anatoly V. Zayats; Emanuele Galiffi

doi:10.1088/1361-6463/ae11c1

The 2026 active metamaterials roadmap

Simon A. Pope, Diane J. Roth, Aakash Bansal, Mostafa Mousa, Ashkan Rezanejad, Antonio E. Forte, Geoff R. Nash, Lawrence Singleton, Felix Langfeldt, Jordan Cheer, Stephen Henthorn, Ian R. Hooper, Euan Hendry, Alex W. Powell, Anton Souslov, Eric Plum, Kai Sun, C. H. De Groot, Otto L. Muskens, Joe ShieldsCarlota Ruiz De Galarreta, C. David Wright, Coskun Kocabas, M. Said Ergoktas, Jianling Xiao, Sebastian A. Schulz, Andrea Di Falco, Alexey V. Krasavin, Anatoly V. Zayats, Emanuele Galiffi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Active metamaterials (AMMs) are engineered structures that possess novel properties that can be changed after the point of manufacture. Their novel properties arise predominantly from their physical structure, as opposed to their chemical composition and can be changed through means such as direct energy addition into wave paths, or physically changing/morphing the structure in response to both a user or environmental input. AMMs are currently of wide interest to the physics community and encompass a range of sub-domains in applied physics (e.g. photonic, microwave, acoustic, mechanical, etc). They possess the potential to provide solutions that are more suitable to specific applications, or which allow novel properties to be produced which cannot be achieved with passive metamaterials, such as time-varying or gain enhancement effects. They have the potential to help solve some of the important current and future problems faced by the advancement of modern society, such as achieving net-zero, sustainability, healthcare and equality goals. Despite their huge potential, the added complexity of their design and operation, compared to passive metamaterials creates challenges to the advancement of the field, particularly beyond theoretical and lab-based experiments. This roadmap brings together experts in all types of AMMs and across a wide range of areas of applied physics. The objective is to provide an overview of the current state of the art and the associated current/future challenges, with the hope that the required advances identified create a roadmap for the future advancement and application of this field.

Original language	English
Article number	143001
Number of pages	43
Journal	Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Volume	59
Issue number	14
Early online date	8 Apr 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ae11c1
Publication status	Published - 8 Apr 2026

Data Availability Statement

No new data were created or analysed in this study.

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through the UK Metamaterials Network Grant (EP/V002198/1). Antonio E. Forte would like to acknowledge the financial support of UKRI Grants EP/X525571/1 and MR/X035506/1. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the United Kingdom (A-Meta: A UKUS Collaboration for AMMs Research, Grant No. EP/W003341/1). Lawrence Singleton and Jordan Cheer were partially supported by the Intelligent Structures for Low Noise Environments (ISLNE) EPSRC Prosperity Partnership, UK (EP/S03661X/1). Jordan Cheer was partially supported by the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) Royal Academy of Engineering under the Research Chairs and Senior Research Fellowships programme. Felix Langfeldt was partially supported by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) UK Acoustics Network Plus EP/V007866/1. I.R.H. acknowledges financial support from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) via the A-Meta project (Grant No. EP/W003341/1). EH acknowledges support from EP/S036466/1, EP/W003341/1 and EP/V047914/1. AWP acknowledges support from a Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. AS acknowledges the support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through New Investigator Award No. EP/T000961/1. This work was supported by the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant EP/T02643X/1). The author (KS) would like to acknowledge the funding support from Innovate UK ICURe programme on technology commercialisation exploration. J S and C D W acknowledge financial support from the EPSRC via Grants EP/W003341/1, EP/W022931/1 and UKRI1255. C R de G acknowledges funding from the MSCA Fellowship 101068089. This research is supported by the European Research Council through ERC-Consolidator Grant 682723, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTLX-1000135951) and EPSRC EP/X027643/1 (ERC PoC Grant). Competing interests: C K is involved in activities towards the commercialisation of graphene based optical surfaces by SmartIR Ltd. We acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC, Grant Agreement No. 819346) and the EPSRC (EP/X018121/1). A V K and A V Z acknowledge support from the UKRI EPSRC project EP/W017075/1. A V Z acknowledges support from the UKRI EPSRC project EP/Y015673/1 and ERC iCOMM Project (789340). E G acknowledges funding by the Simons Foundation through the Simons Society of Fellows programme (855344/EG).

Keywords

active
metamaterials
metasurfaces
reconfigurable
road map
shape-morphing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Condensed Matter Physics
Acoustics and Ultrasonics
Surfaces, Coatings and Films

Access to Document

10.1088/1361-6463/ae11c1Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Pope, S. A., Roth, D. J., Bansal, A., Mousa, M., Rezanejad, A., Forte, A. E., Nash, G. R., Singleton, L., Langfeldt, F., Cheer, J., Henthorn, S., Hooper, I. R., Hendry, E., Powell, A. W., Souslov, A., Plum, E., Sun, K., De Groot, C. H., Muskens, O. L., ... Galiffi, E. (2026). The 2026 active metamaterials roadmap. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 59(14), Article 143001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ae11c1

Pope, SA, Roth, DJ, Bansal, A, Mousa, M, Rezanejad, A, Forte, AE, Nash, GR, Singleton, L, Langfeldt, F, Cheer, J, Henthorn, S, Hooper, IR, Hendry, E, Powell, AW, Souslov, A, Plum, E, Sun, K, De Groot, CH, Muskens, OL, Shields, J, Ruiz De Galarreta, C, Wright, CD, Kocabas, C, Ergoktas, MS, Xiao, J, Schulz, SA, Di Falco, A, Krasavin, AV, Zayats, AV & Galiffi, E 2026, 'The 2026 active metamaterials roadmap', Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, vol. 59, no. 14, 143001. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ae11c1

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The 2026 active metamaterials roadmap

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

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