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February 27th, 2012
Graduate Seminar
"Electromagnetic metamaterials, transformation wave dynamics, and their real-world applications"
Dr. Yaroslav Urzhumov
Assistant Research Professor
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Duke University
When: Monday, February 27th, 2012 at 3:05 p.m.
Where: Warnock 2250
Abstract
Artificially created media can derive their properties both from their natural material components and mesoscopic structure. The recent boom in photonics can be largely attributed to the emergence of technologies capable of sculpting meta-media with a nearly infinite number of mesoscopic geometries. The relationship between these nano-technologies and theoretical material science became truly synergistic when a powerful design methodology, dubbed “transformation optics”, was added to the toolbox of electrical engineers. Transformation optics promises ultimate control over the localization and flow of electromagnetic fields, and paves the way towards devices that were imagined long ago but thought impossible until recently. Those devices include invisibility cloaks, perfectly flat lenses with sub-wavelength resolution, long-range near-field energy transmitters and improved versions of gradient-index lenses with reduced thickness and virtually arbitrary shapes. In my talk, I will review recent trends in transformation optics and present my current work on perhaps the most mysterious and elusive T.O. devices – omnidirectional invisibility cloaks - and their potential to become macroscopic at optical wavelengths. Discussed will be also a special case of electromagnetic transformations – space-folding (non-isomorphic) mappings and their applications to near-field imaging devices, wireless power transfer and magnetic levitation. Additionally, we will take a look at the ever-expanding world of complex meta-media from a broader perspective, and discuss the influence of transformation wave dynamics – a generalization of transformation optics - on other physics ranging from acoustics to fluid dynamics.
Speaker Biography
Yaroslav Urzhumov is an Assistant Research Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University, where he works since 2009. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin, where he defended his dissertation in the field of optical metamaterials under supervision of Prof. Gennady Shvets in 2007. Dr. Urzhumov’s scientific career started at the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics in Moscow, Russia, where he worked in the group of Prof. Imshennik on problems of particle astrophysics and fusion plasmas. Between now and then, Dr. Urzhumov had also worked as an application engineer for COMSOL Inc., a multiphysics simulation software company. Urzhumov’s research interests include theoretical and applied aspects of metamaterials for optics and photonics, microwave and low-frequency electromagnetism, as well as acoustics and fluid dynamics. In less than 10 years, he has published over 60 scientific papers, including more than 30 refereed publications and book chapters, which were cited over 660 times. His works on metamaterial applications such as optical cloaking, wireless power transfer and wake-free propulsion systems won the cover of Physical Review Letters, were highlighted by ScienceNOW and APS Physics Synopsis, and reported by mass media including MSNBC, Popular Science magazine and The Forbes business news.