  Recently we demonstrated that mapping of monochromatic extraordinary light
distribution in a hyperbolic metamaterial along some spatial direction may
model the flow of time and create an experimental toy model of the big bang.
Here we extend this model to emulate cosmological inflation. This idea is
illustrated in experiments performed with two-dimensional plasmonic hyperbolic
metamaterials. Spatial dispersion which is always present in hyperbolic
metamaterials results in scale-dependent (fractal) structure of the
inflationary "metamaterial spacetime". This feature of our model replicates
hypothesized fractal structure of the real observable universe.
