Metamaterials are artificial composites with electromagnetic properties not found in nature. Although the development of metamaterials has experienced a tremendous growth over the past few years, their potential at optical wavelengths is not clearly established due to technological and physical constraints such as high material losses in this spectral range. Here we show that metamaterials have a great potential in the context of integrated optics in the near infrared. We developed a strategy to incorporate metamaterials in photonic circuits with minimal absorption losses. Our approach relies on making the guided modes interact with the metamaterials only through the evanescent tail outside the waveguide. To achieve such an adaptor and other functionalities, it is important to know what is the best geometry for near-infrared applications. We propose to use metamaterials based on multi-layers of Au cut wires. With numerical simulations and experiments, we show that it is possible to create a wide range of optical properties by controlling the interaction between the wires, i.e. by adjusting the distance between the wires and their alignment. In particular we were able to demonstrate
