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Projects


Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number EP/J018473/1
Title NSF Materials World Network: Classical and Quantum Optical Metamaterials by Combining Top-down and Bottom-up Fabrication Techniques
Status Completed
Energy Categories Energy Efficiency(Other) 10%;
Not Energy Related 90%;
Research Types Basic and strategic applied research 100%
Science and Technology Fields PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics) 50%;
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) 50%;
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator Dr s zhang
No email address given
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Birmingham
Award Type Standard
Funding Source EPSRC
Start Date 01 February 2013
End Date 31 January 2016
Duration 36 months
Total Grant Value £561,773
Industrial Sectors
Region West Midlands
Programme NC : Physical Sciences
 
Investigators Principal Investigator Dr s zhang , School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham (99.999%)
  Other Investigator Dr NC Panoiu , Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London (0.001%)
  Industrial Collaborator Project Contact , Regents of the University of California, Berkeley, USA (0.000%)
Web Site
Objectives
Abstract This Materials World Network Program proposes an international research platform between US and UK into new regime of classical and quantum metamaterials, which brings together our strong expertise in advanced nanofabrication, optical characterization, and physics-based analysis to design and realize the unprecedented optical properties of metamaterials. The scale-down of metamaterials to optical frequencies paved the way for a new class of metamaterials with a profound impact on a broad range of applications in telecommunication, optical imaging, energy harvesting, health care, and homeland security. However, the key breakthrough in the field of optical metamaterials is hindered by: (1) the lack of capability of current top-down fabrication techniques to engineer structures at a few nanometers scale; (2) lack of long range ordering due to the bottom-up nanofabrication approaches; (3) optical loss in the metal-based optical metamaterials; and (4) lack of optical control at low photon levels in optical metamaterials. In this project, we aim to overcome these critical challenges by combining top-down and bottom-up nanofabrication techniques for the manufacturing of optical metamaterials, and by extending metamaterials to the quantum regime to reduce the loss and to introduce novel optical control schemes that go beyond classical metamaterials. This program combines synergistically three collaborators, one in the US and two in the UK, with an established records of collaboration to investigate the fabrication, characterization, and physics-based modeling of novel optical metamaterials. The central rationale for this collaborative program is that it integrates a UK group's strong expertise in large scale nanofabrication and another strong UK group's theoretical and computational capabilities in metamaterials and nonlinear optics, with a US group with demonstrated records of various optical characterisation techniques. To ensure close collaborations, we plan to use weekly internet based video-conferencing (Skype, etc.), semiannual workshops that bring the whole team together in conjunction of MRS or E-MRS meetings as well as frequent visits among researchers
Publications (none)
Final Report (none)
Added to Database 19/03/13