Next generation metamaterials: exploiting four dimensions

Multiple, disruptive wave-based technologies (acoustic, elastic, radio-frequency, terahertz, and optical) would emerge if the response of the underlying materials could be modulated at will, varying throughout space and time.

META4D will simultaneously explore the fundamental physics of space-time-modulated materials and be the first to demonstrate their potential in real world applications; we will design and test a new generation of 4D (space and time) materials.

Our Research

The idea

Our research will develop new materials where the refractive index can be changed in time, exploring switchablefunctionality and the plethora of new wave effects that emerge when the material properties are varied rapidly.

This is not always an easy thing to do and to avoid potential obstacles to our research we take a "wave agnostic" view, where we - in parallel - explore the effects of a time varying wave speed for airborne acoustic waves, mechanical vibrations, radio frequency waves, terahertz waves, and in optics.

Technology

  • The next generation of wireless communication (6G) requires a vast number of conventional antennas. Time-modulated microwave and THz metasurfaces can generate new frequencies and enable fast switchable beam shaping. Our materials will allow a single compact antenna to function as multiple conventional ones.

  • Wave scattering can be seen as a computation, multiplying an input vector by a large matrix, performed at wave speed. However, this typically requires a new material for each task. Our metamaterials can rapidly reconfigure their properties, enabling true high-speed analogue wave computation and machine learning.

  • A moving space-time modulated material can, by shifting the wave frequency, appear stationary to radar or sonar. Our new materials can deny targeting information to an adversary.

  • Commercial optical isolators are bulky and rely on magnetic fields. Space-time modulated materials using acousto-optical effects offer a compact solution, enabling multiple new methods for isolation across all wave domains.

Goals

To gain a full theoretical understanding and develop new methods for designing space-time modulated metamaterial devices.

To fabricate and experimentally validate space-time modulated metamaterials across all wave domains.

To apply space-time modulated metamaterials to obtain functionalities impossible with passive structures.

To investigate the feasibility of industrial applications across all wave domains.

The META4D Team

  • Richard Craster

    Principal Investigator

  • Riccardo Sapienza

    Co-Investigator

  • Alastair Hibbins

    Co-Investigator

  • Simon Horsley

    Co-Investigator

  • Anatoly Zayats

    Co-Investigator

  • John Pendry

    Co-Investigator

  • Joe Bhaseen

    Co-Investigator

  • Gregory Chaplain

    Co-Investigator

  • Eva-Maria Graefe

    Co-Investigator

  • Euan Hendry

    Co-Investigator

  • Ian Hooper

    Co-Investigator

  • Stefan Maier

    Co-Investigator

  • Rupert Oulton

    Co-Investigator

  • Francisco Rodríguez Fortuño

    Co-Investigator

News

  • META4D co-investigator and pioneer in the field of transformation optics, Professor Sir John Pendry, received the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology for his contributions to Materials Science in November 2024.

  • The META4D Programme grant will be attending the UKKMN IOP Showcase.The showcase will be an opportunity for industry and leaders in the metamaterials field to foster collaboration and discuss the future of metamaterials in the UK.

Industry Partners