Negative-Refraction, Super-Resolution Imaging and Invisibility with Metamaterials

For the past 12 years significant research has been conducted in the new field of metamaterials, man-made materials that enable extreme control over electromagnetic waves. A milestone achievement has been the realization of metamaterials exhibiting a negative-index of refraction thus extending Snell's (1580-1626) classical law of refraction. This work has also led to a number of interesting and potentially transformative applications both in the microwave and optical regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including super-resolution imaging (beyond the diffraction limit) and invisibility cloaking. This talk will provide a general overview of how metamaterials and negative refraction work and a discussion of recent experimental results achieved within the Electromagnetics Research Group at the University of Toronto, in particular pertaining to super-resolution imaging, cloaking and extreme wavefront control.

Biography

George V. Eleftheriades earned his Ph.D. and M.S.E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1993 and 1989 respectively. He received a diploma (with distinction) in Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 1988. Currently he is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto where he holds the Canada Research Chair/Velma M. Rogers Graham Chair in Engineering.

Dr. Eleftheriades received the Ontario Premier's Research Excellence Award in 2001, and the E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada in 2004. In 2006 Professor Eleftheriades was elected a Fellow of the IEEE 'for contributions to conception, analysis and fabrication of electromagnetic materials and their applications'. Professor Eleftheriades was the recipient of the 2008 IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Technical Field Award 'for pioneering contributions to the science and technological applications of negative-refraction electromagnetic materials'. In 2009 Professor Eleftheriades has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Presently he is leading a group of talented graduate students in the areas of electromagnetic metamaterials and metasurfaces, super-resolution imaging, small antennas and components for broadband wireless communications, novel antenna beam-steering techniques, plasmonic and nanoscale optical components and electromagnetic design for high-speed digital circuits.