An optical component may be provided having a substrate with a first refractive index, in which space regions with a second refractive index are arranged, wherein the optical component contains at least one optical metamaterial, which contains a plurality of individual pixels each comprising a space region which has the first or the second refractive index, wherein the substrate contains at least one polymer. Further, a sensor may be provided with such an optical component and a process for measuring any of an expansion or a temperature.