Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is known to have a semiconductor-to-metal phase transition at ∼68 °C. Therefore, it can be used as a tunable component of an active metamaterial. The lamellar metamaterial studied in this work is composed of subwavelength VO2 and Au layers and is designed to undergo a temperature controlled transition from the optical hyperbolic phase to the metallic phase. VO2 films and VO2/Au lamellar metamaterial stacks have been fabricated and studied in electrical conductivity and optical (transmission and reflection) experiments. The observed temperature-dependent changes in the reflection and transmission spectra of the metamaterials and VO2 thin films are in a good qualitative agreement with theoretical predictions. The demonstrated optical hyperbolic-to-metallic phase transition is a unique physical phenomenon with the potential to enable advanced control of light-matter interactions.

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