nader engheta

Four-Dimensional (4D) Metamaterials for Structuring Fields and Waves

Materials are often used to tailor, control and manipulate electromagnetic fields and waves. Metamaterials have provided exciting possibilities in extreme functionality in sculpting and structuring wave-matter interaction. We have been exploring how four-dimensional metamaterials, i.e., the materials in which the material parameters can change rapidly with time in addition to (or instead of) change with space, can give us new platforms in structuring fields and waves that lead to certain useful functions. Several research programs are being investigated in my group. As one program, we have been developing material platforms that can perform analog computation, such as solving integral and differential equations and inverting matrices with waves, as waves interact with them. Such “metamaterial machines” operate as wave-based analog computing machines, with possible expansion into micro- and nanoscale domains. Another scenario deals with spatiotemporal metamaterials, in which temporal variation of material parameters is added to the tools of spatial inhomogeneities for manipulating light-matter interaction. These 4D structures can also be used for manipulation of diffusion to achieve asymmetric diffusion and trapping and for developing the concept temporal slab lens. The third category of structured waves is achieved in the near-zero-index materials and associated photonic doping that exhibit unique features in light-matter interaction, opening doors to exciting new wave-based and quantum optical features. In this talk, I will give an overview of some of our ongoing research programs in the above topics, and will forecast future possibilities in these topics.

Nader ENGHETA is the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, with affiliations in the Departments of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Physics and Astronomy, Bioengineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. He received his BS degree from the University of Tehran, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees from Caltech. His current research activities span a broad range of areas including photonics, metamaterials, electrodynamics, microwaves, nano-optics, graphene photonics, imaging and sensing inspired by eyes of animal species, microwave and optical antennas, and physics and engineering of fields and waves. He has received several awards for his research including the Isaac Newton Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics (UK), Max Born Award from the Optical Society, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the IEEE Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology, the Gold Medal from SPIE, the Balthasar van der Pol Gold Medal from the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), the William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, induction to the Canadian Academy of Engineering as an International Fellow, the Fellow of US National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the IEEE Electromagnetics Award, the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship Award from US Department of Defense, the Wheatstone Lecture in King’s College London, 2006 Scientific American Magazine 50 Leaders in Science and Technology, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal. He is a Fellow of seven international scientific and technical organizations, i.e., IEEE, Optical Society of America (OSA), American Physical Society (APS), Materials Research Society (MRS), International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), International Union of Radio Science (URSI), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has received the honorary doctoral degrees from the Aalto University in Finland in 2016, the University of Stuttgart, Germany in 2016, and Ukraine’s National Technical University Kharkov Polytechnic Institute in 2017.