We were awarded ONR grant for diffraction-unlimited flat lens! [Aug 21, 2015]
We were awarded by Office of Naval Research about $375K research grant for three years to develop a loss-free prototype metamaterial flat lens with diffraction-unlimited resolution. The project team includes Prof. Guney (PI) and collaborators Dr. Phil Evans (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Prof. Martin Wegener (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany), Prof. Joshua Pearce (ECE/MSE), and Prof. Elena Semouchkina (ECE). The field of electromagnetic metamaterials has provided us with a new look at the materials by mimicking nature through engineering in subwavelength scales. This has led to the possibility of previously unthought-of applications such as flat lens, perfect lens, hyperlens, ultimate illusion optics, perfect absorber, quantum levitation, and many others. We envision that control over constitutive parameters of electromagnetic materials will transform the way we design electromagnetic devices in the entire spectrum, ranging from radio to ultraviolet frequencies.
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Loss-Free Metamaterials without Gain Medium [Jul 17, 2015]
Metamaterials have led to previously unthought of applications such as a flat lens, perfect lens, hyperlens, ultimate illusion optics, perfect absorber, optical analog simulators, enhanced photovoltaics, and more recently in quantum information processing. Despite tremendous progress in theory and experimental realizations, the major current challenges seem to further delay the metamaterial era to come. Perhaps the most critical challenge is how to avoid optical losses—especially in large-volume structures. The performance of devices utilizing metamaterials dramatically degrades at optical frequencies due to significant Ohmic losses arising from the metallic constituents. The strategies proposed to mitigate the losses include passive reduction and active compensation schemes. Read More
We were Awarded NSF Grant for Advanced Plasmonic Photovoltaics! [Jun 28, 2012]
We were awarded by National Science Foundation about $300K research grant for three years to increase the solar energy conversion efficiency in hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photovoltaic devices with plasmonic perfect absorbers. The project team includes Prof. Guney (PI) and co-PIs Prof. Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE), Prof. Paul Bergstrom (ECE), and Prof. Costas Soukoulis (Ames Lab, IA). Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion is a technically viable and sustainable solution to society's energy needs, but the costs must be further reduced for widespread adoption at the terrawatt scale needed to combat carbon-induced climate destabilization. a-Si:H is an inexpensive and readily available earth abundant solar cell material, which stands to revolutionize our capability for generating clean sustainable energy. Read More
We were Awarded NSF Grant for Optical Metamaterials! [Apr 10, 2012]
We were awarded by National Science Foundation more than $180K research grant for three years to advance the photonic metamaterials. The project team includes Prof. Guney (PI), co-PI Prof. Costas Soukoulis (Ames Lab, IA), and collaborator Prof. Martin Wegener (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany). Metamaterials are man-made, usually periodic structures. Under incident electromagnetic waves with wavelengths much larger than the constituent unit cells, these heterogeneous structures behave as homogeneous materials with effective electric permittivity and effective magnetic permeability. Given desired permittivity and permeability, inverse problem of finding the corresponding unit cell underlies a wide variety of exotic things not possible with conventional optics such as perfect lens, ultra-sensitive sensors, high-precision lithography, optical analog computers, antimagnets, quantum levitation, invisibility cloaks, and more. Read More
Prof. Guney Receives ORAU Award! [Apr 10, 2012]
Oak Ridge Associated Universities has selected Durdu Guney of Michigan Technological University to receive a 2012 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award.
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Stretching Negative Index Metamaterials to Ultraviolet? [Nov 15, 2011]
Metamaterials are artificial materials that exhibit properties not seen in nature. If designed properly, metamaterials could make the magical real. You could make a 'perfect lens' with arbitrarily high resolution, use your cell phone as a microscope, levitate objects with a laser beam, make yourself vanish, simulate exotic phenomena with light, create dynamic optical illusions, and more. However, despite remarkable progress, metamaterials are still 'under construction.' The perfect lens is an example. The most fascinating application driving the field, it would ideally require a negative refractive index at as high frequency as possible with the smallest possible feature size. Read More
Negative refraction gives rise to the Klein paradox! [Jun 1, 2009]
We introduced in relativistic quantum mechanics the negative refraction phenomenon for the first time, which was previously shown only in the classical electrodynamics and acoustic domains. Our results were published in Physical Review A. First experimental verification of electromagnetic negative refraction in metamaterials was achieved in 2001 in our campus (University of California, San Diego). Metamaterials potentially lead to the applications superior to conventional devices including compact antennas for mobile stations, imaging beyond the diffraction limit, and high-resolution radars, not to mention the anomalous wave propagation in fundamental optics. Read More
Toward isotropic metamaterials [Feb 15, 2009]
We published in Optics Letters the first truly bulk one- and two-dimensionally isotropic photonic negative index metamaterials, which can potentially be fabricated with direct laser writing processes around telecom wavelengths with about 20THz bandwidth. Direct laser writing is considered as the most viable technique for the fabrication of truly 3D large-scale photonic metamaterials. Read More
Our isotropic design featured in OPN [Nov 1, 2008]
The meandering wire design which we have proposed for the fabrication of isotropic metamaterials was featured by Ekmel Ozbay in the Optics and Photonics News magazine. Metamaterials have opened a world of new possibilities that would have seemed like magic or science-fiction a decade ago, including perfect lenses and invisibility cloaking. Ozbay's article explores the progress of the field. The following paragraphs are extracted from his feature article. Read More
We got an honorable mention with the gravitational lens picture! [Oct 31, 2008]
The gravitational lens image that we submitted to the Physics Picture Contest organized by Iowa State University's Physics and Astronomy department was awarded honorary mention. The picture, titled Curvature of the Heavens, now decorates the hallway of Old Physics building at Iowa State University. Prof. Lee Anne Wilson was the one who actually made this contest possible. Keren Sharon of Tel-Aviv University, who has contributed to this great image with Eran Ofek of CalTech, was happy to know their picture was selected. Read More