Optical lenses that can see features smaller than the wavelength of light cannot be made from conventional materials. Creating "hyperlenses" that can take ultra-sharp images needs both designer materials (that is, metamaterials) and innovative optics to be developed. Current methods for fabricating such synthetic metamaterials are complicated and involve assembling artificial cells and patterning processes. Scientists wanted a simpler, cheaper way and Texas A&M invented it. Their new one-step method directs the self-assembly of metallic gold pillars into a special oxide using pulsed laser deposition.