Metamaterials with higher dimensions: space, time, and more

ORAL · Invited

Abstract

Tailoring and structuring photons requires materials. Metamaterials and metasurfaces have provided rich platforms for enhancing light-matter interaction. Increasing the degrees of freedom in parameters of such materials can provide broader possibilities for endowing light with useful functionalities. In this talk, I will present some of our most recent results on exploring metamaterials and metasurfaces with high degrees of freedom and dimensions including spatial and/or temporal inhomogeneities, and other degrees of freedom such as anisotropy, ellipticity, and hyperbolicity. As I will show, such materials with higher dimensions/degrees of freedom lead to exciting novel features with potential applications in reconfigurable photonic analog computing, 4D optics, and other interesting devices and components.

* This work is supported in part by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grants # FA9550-21-1-0312 and FA9550-17-1-0002, the AFOSR grant # FA9550-23-1-0307, and the Simons Foundation/Collaboration on Symmetry-Driven Extreme Wave Phenomena Grant 733684.

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Publication: N. Mohammadi Estakhri, B. Edwards, and N. Engheta, "Inverse-designed metastructures that solve equations," Science, 363 (6433), 1333–1338 (2019).
M. Camacho, B. Edwards, and N. Engheta, "A single inverse-designed photonic structure that performs parallel computing," Nature Communications, 12:1466 (2021).
A. Cordaro, B. Edwards, V. Nikkhah, A. Alu, N. Engheta and A. Polman, "Solving integral equations in free space with inverse-designed ultrathin optical metagratings," Nature Nanotechnology, doi: 10.1038/s41565-022-01297-9 (2023).
V. Pacheco-Pena, D. M. Solis and N. Engheta, "Time-varying electromagnetic media: Opinion," Optical Materials Express, 12(10), 3829-3836 (2022).
N. Engheta, "Four-dimensional optics with time-varying metamaterials," Science, 379(6638), 1190-1191 (2023).
D. Tzarouchis, B. Edwards and N. Engheta," Programmable wave-based analog computing machine: A metastructure that designed metastructures," Arxiv: arXiv:2301.02850 (2022).
D. Tzarouchis, M. J. Mencagli, B. Edwards, and N. Engheta, "Mathematical operation and equation solving with reconfigurable metadevices," Light Sci. Appl., 11:263 (2022).

Presenters

  • Nader Engheta

    University of Pennsylvania

Authors

  • Nader Engheta

    University of Pennsylvania