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Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications

Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications is a research topic within Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials. Science Explorer counts 36k research works in it since 1956. 25.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the study and applications of metamaterials, including their role in achieving negative refraction, the design and properties of plasmonic and dielectric metasurfaces, the principles of transformation optics, the development of chiral metamaterials, and the exploration of metamaterials in terahertz and nanophotonic systems. Additionally, it covers topics such as optical cloaking and the utilization of photonic crystals.

  • Metamaterials
  • Negative Refraction
  • Plasmonic Metasurfaces
  • Dielectric Metasurfaces
  • Transformation Optics
  • Chiral Metamaterials
  • Terahertz Metamaterials
  • Nanophotonics
  • Optical Cloaking
  • Photonic Crystals
Research works
36k
fractional, since 1956
In the world top 10%
9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
25.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+68%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (6k and 880 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 6k works
  2. 2 United States 880 works
  3. 3 India 702 works
  4. 4 South Korea 279 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 243 works
  6. 6 France 224 works
  7. 7 Iran 213 works
  8. 8 Japan 213 works
  9. 9 Italy 198 works
  10. 10 Russia 165 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 65.9%United States: 9.6%India: 7.7%South Korea: 3.0%6 others listed: 13.7%66%largest
China6,026 · 65.9%United States880 · 9.6%India702 · 7.7%South Korea279 · 3.0%6 others listed1,257 · 13.7%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China publishes the most Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications research, followed by Southeast University and Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Who are the leading researchers in Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications include Ian F. Akyildiz, David R. Smith and Andreas F. Molisch.

  1. 1 Ian F. Akyildiz United States 8.2k citations
  2. 2 David R. Smith United States 6.3k citations
  3. 3 Andreas F. Molisch United States 4.3k citations
  4. 4 Mérouane Debbah France 4.3k citations
  5. 5 S. Schultz United States 4k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications research done?

The largest centres of Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Xi'an (China) and Shanghai (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nanjing and Pohang.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 834 works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 637 works
  3. 3 Xi'an China 593 works
  4. 4 Shanghai China 387 works
  5. 5 Chengdu China 281 works
  6. 6 Hangzhou China 272 works
  7. 7 Guangzhou China 226 works
  8. 8 Wuhan China 220 works
  9. 9 Harbin China 215 works
  10. 10 Changsha China 179 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Nanjing44.2 works36×
  2. PohangKR · 40.5 works14×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications than the world average.

See Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications on the map

Where is the best place to study Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xidian University and Southeast University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 29.52%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Northwestern Polytechnical University: 127, 43.0%Xidian University: 114, 28.5%Southeast University: 138, 24.7%Pohang University of Science and Technology: 28, 38.2%Air Force Engineering University: 84, 25.1%Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics: 83, 29.2%Nanjing University of Science and Technology: 79, 26.5%Nanjing University: 114, 26.2%National University of Defense Technology: 71, 31.4%University of Electronic Science and Technology of China: 140, 22.4%Northwestern Polytec…Pohang University of…Xidian UniversitySoutheast University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Northwestern Polytechnical UniversityChina 81.343.0%10.4×127 +197.1%
2 Xidian UniversityChina 73.728.5%14.6×114 +218.4%
3 Southeast UniversityChina 71.524.7%9.7×138 +169.3%
4 Pohang University of Science and TechnologySouth Korea 70.038.2%12.7×28 +917.8%
5 Air Force Engineering UniversityChina 68.525.1%53.7×84 +354.4%
6 Nanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsChina 68.329.2%8.8×83 +236.6%
7 Nanjing University of Science and TechnologyChina 67.226.5%9.0×79 +207.4%
8 Nanjing UniversityChina 66.926.2%14.0×114 +92.7%
9 National University of Defense TechnologyChina 66.831.4%8.6×71 +235.4%
10 University of Electronic Science and Technology of ChinaChina 66.322.4%11.6×140 +96.9%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 68% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.