Meta4D

Next generation metamaterials: Exploiting four dimensions

Researchers in the Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation (CMRI) are part of an exciting new £7.7m EPSRC project looking into manipulating metamaterials in the fourth dimension: time.

Spatial reflections occur when a wave hits a boundary in space, which is why you hear echoes as sound bounces off walls or see your own reflection as light bounces of a mirror. By considering time as the fourth dimension, we can think about what happens when a material in which a wave is travelling in abruptly (i.e. in time) changes it properties: a phenomenon known as a time reflection can occur.

Such energy that ‘reflects in time’ does not change its direction, but instead changes its frequency and energy. Ultimately by fabricating a metamaterial with structure in time and space, its possible to gain complete control of waves, such as direction, energy, reflection, speed, and colour.

For this project, the CMRI's cutting-edge facilities and extensive research expertise are being utilised to perform novel experiments across the acoustic, microwave and THz regimes.

In addition, CMRI researchers are applying their theoretical understanding of wave scattering to design space-time modulated surfaces. These designs could be instrumental in the development of analogue computation architectures.

People

The Meta4D project sees CMRI academics collaborating with researchers from King's College London and lead institution Imperial College London to study the manipulation of waves, such as light waves or acoustic waves, using tailored metamaterials that vary in time instead of space.

CMRI researchers contributing to the Meta4D project include:


Prof Alastair Hibbins (Co-Investigator)	Prof Euan Hendry (Co-Investigator)	Dr Simon Horsley (Co-Investigator)

Dr Gregory Chaplain (Co-Investigator)	Dr Ian Hooper (Researcher-Co-Investigator)

They form part of the Meta4D project alongside academics from partner institutions:


Prof Richard Craster (Principal Investigator)	Dr Eva-Marie Grafe (Co-Investigator)	Prof Riccardo Sapienza (Co-Investigator)

Prof Sir John Pendry (Co-Investigator)	Prof Rupert Oulton (Co-Investigator)	Prof Anatoly Zayats (Co-Investigator)

Dr Francisco Rodriguez-Fortuno (Co-Investigator)	Prof Stefan Maier (Co-Investigator)	Dr Miraculous Bhaseen (Co-Investigator)