Research Uncovered: Metamaterials - the future is by design

Controlling electromagnetic waves (light, microwaves, radio waves) is a key aspect of modern technology. We are all familiar with lenses, used in spectacles, which refract and then focus light. But the dream would be to create new materials which have much more powerful properties than ordinary glass. Metamaterials have such potential.

Metamaterials are simply man-made structures that give properties not found in nature, such as the way they absorb, reflect or refract (bend) light. The key to their novel behaviour is that they are fabricated, by design, from structures that are small by comparison to the wavelength which one wishes to control. For radio waves this is easy as the wavelength may be metres and so the building blocks of the metamaterials may be centimetres in size. It is much harder for shorter wavelengths such as with visible light where the blocks will need to be tens of nanometers in scale. By assembling such materials — from wire grids to split ring resonator arrays to photonic crystals — at a scale smaller than the wavelength of the wave one is seeking to control, the wave can, in theory, be manipulated to order.

This makes metamaterials the tool of choice for scientists racing to build all sorts of wave-controlling devices, including the so-called invisibility cloak — a cover to render whatever’s inside effectively invisible by bending light or radar waves around it.

This talk will explore some aspects of electromagnetic and possibly acoustic (sound controlling) metamaterials.

A complimentary drinks reception will follow the lecture.

Full details of Research Uncovered can be found on the Students’ Guild website.