SC438

Controlling electromagnetic and optical fields and waves can be achieved via materials. The wave-matter interaction can be manipulated and engineered using structures made of materials with required parameters and structures with selected shapes, dimensions and sizes. Recent advances in materials science and engineering, condensed matter physics, optical materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology have made it possible to tailor materials with unusual parameters and characteristics. The field of metamaterials, along with its two-dimensional version known as metasurfaces, has seen growing interest and extensive development in recent years. Metamaterials, and in general metastructures, are engineered composite structures made of subwavelength inclusions with suitable materials and proper arrangements. The compositions, arrangements, alignments, densities and distributions of these building blocks in host media provide a variety of degrees of freedom in the design of light-matter interaction with such structures. Manipulation of light at the nano-, micro-, meso- and macroscales using metamaterials and metasurfaces provides rich platforms for tailoring electromagnetic waves with desired functionalities.

In this course, we will begin with the basics of electromagnetic wave interaction with material media and structures. Then the course will get into some of the specifics of the characteristics of metamaterials and metasurfaces including the dispersion properties, scattering mechanisms, effective-medium phenomena and unconventional features of waves in such environments. We will then discuss some of the specific topics in photonic metamaterials such as extreme-parameter metamaterials (i.e., epsilon-near-zero (ENZ), mu-near-zero (MNZ), and epsilon-and-mu-near-zero (EMNZ) structures) and their specialized wave-matter interactions, metasurfaces and some of their functionalities, graphene metamaterials as a platform for ideas for one-atom-thick optical device concepts, optical metatronics (“lumped” nanocircuitry) and informatic metasurfaces for photonic information processing and computing at the nanoscale, scattering engineering using metamaterials (such as cloaking), guided waves in metamaterials and nonreciprocal metastructures. We will also discuss the notion of four-dimensional (4D) metamaterials, in which the material parameters can change with time, instead of (or in addition to) changing with space. Various features and potential applications of these topics will also be presented and discussed. During the course, we will have interactive discussions and question-answer sessions.

This course should enable participants to:

• Describe the basics of electromagnetic field and wave interaction with metamaterials and metasurfaces
• Explain some of the important properties of photonic metamaterials and metasurfaces
• Discuss some of the scenarios in light-matter interaction with “extreme-parameter” metamaterials
• Describe the fundamentals of optical nanocircuits (“optical metatronics”), with potentials for information processing in nanophotonics
• Explain some of the ways in which metamaterials can play a role in information processing and computing
• Discuss some of the salient features of scattering and guidance of lights in metamaterials and metasurfaces

Controlling electromagnetic and optical fields and waves can be achieved via materials. The graduate students and senior undergraduates with EE, Physics and Applied Physics interests; engineers, researchers and technical managers from industry, government labs and universities.  Introductory knowledge of electromagnetics and optics is required.

Nader Engheta is the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. He received his PhD degree from Caltech. His current research activities span a broad range of areas including nanophotonics, metamaterials, nano-scale optics, graphene optics, imaging and sensing inspired by eyes of animal species, optical nanoengineering, microwave and optical antennas and engineering and physics of fields and waves. His most recent awards include the Isaac Newton Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics (UK), the Max Born Award from Optica, induction to the Canadian Academy of Engineering as International Fellow, US National Academy of Inventors, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology from IEEE, William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award from IEEE, SPIE Gold Medal, Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellow Award from DoD, Balthasar van der Pol Gold Medal from URSI and IEEE Electromagnetics Award. He is a Fellow of IEEE, Optica, APS, MRS, SPIE, URSI, NAI, IOP and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).