Transforming Light and Sound With Metamaterials

Recently, exciting new physics and applications are emerging from metamaterials made of artificial "atoms" and "molecules." These metamaterials have inspired a series of key explorations to manipulate, store, and control the flow of information and energy at unprecedented dimensions. Yet, these groundbreaking achievements are only the tip of the iceberg, where the next-generation metamaterials, incorporating unique topological interactions between waves and matter, are waiting to be discovered. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts in the fabrication and characterization of optical and acoustic metamaterials. In the optical domain, such strong localization of interest to broadband trapping, mixing, and extraction, is observed by a set of quantitative near-field optical and electron probes. In the arena of sound waves, we demonstrated focusing and rerouting ultrasound through broadband and highly transparent metamaterials. These novel metamaterials could be the foundation of broadband photo-absorbers and directional emitters, as well as compact and power-efficient devices for other forms of waves.

Speaker: Nicholas Xuanlai Fang, MIT

Room 232