Meta-materials with engineered subwavelength inhomogeneities enable the realization of novel properties that are unattainable from naturally existing materials.  Theoretical and preliminary experimental studies have shown that it is possible to make electromagnetic meta-materials with unprecedented characteristics such as

- Left-handedness with simultaneous negative permittivity and permeability

- Negative lens that focuses electromagnetic waves far below the diffraction limit

- Artificial magnetism from nonmagnetic materials

We have assembled an outstanding team with a wide range of expertise, including condensed matter physics, electrodynamics, meta-material synthesis, and microwave electronics to respond to the unique opportunity provided by the DoD MURI program. 

Our team members come from the UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, MIT, Imperial College(UK), and Boeing (as a non-cost member).  We have also assembled an MURI Advisory Board with members from defense industries and NRL for technology transition from research to DoD applications. 

We aim at demonstrating revolutionary properties of meta-materials through the development of innovative synthesis technologies, theoretical simulations, experimental characterizations, and device development. The core of our approach is to use a scalable 3D fabrication technique - micro stereo lithography (mSL) and the mold transfer techniques thereof to fabricate highly complex 3D metastructures. With these synthesis techniques, many unique attributes of meta-materials can be designed.

We plan to explore new physical phenomena in these meta-materials through the controlled lattice tuning, symmetry reduction, and real-time reconfiguration. Our experimental studies aim at demonstrating diffraction-free imaging by negative refractive lens, high frequency artificial magnetism, artificial plasma in negative e materials, left-handedness, and tunable bandgaps. We anticipate that the fundamental discoveries from this project will have profound impacts in a wide range of applications such as nanolithography, magnetic resonance image, microwave and optical wave communication.

We will focus on novel device demonstrations in the microwave range with tunable plasma filters, near field waveguide couplers, and slow wave reconfigurable devices. Their transition to military and civilian sectors will be pursued through collaborations with our industrial partners and Advisory Board members. We also plan to establish a national foundry for the 3D meta-materials fabrication. We have developed a working plan to train total about 20-30 students in a highly multidisciplinary and collaborative environment to become future leaders in the exciting meta-materials  research.