University of Toronto Study Charts New Realm of Physics
Posted on: Wednesday, 19 March 2003, 06:00 CST
University of Toronto -- By constructing artificial materials that break long-standing rules of nature, a University of Toronto researcher has developed a flat lens that could significantly enhance the resolution of imaged objects.
This, in turn, could lead to smaller and more effective antennas and devices for cell phones, increased space for data storage on CD-ROMs and more complex electronic circuits.
"This is new physics," says George Eleftheriades, a U of T professor specializing in electromagnetic technology at the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and senior author of an article in the March 24 issue of Applied Physics Letters. "These findings provide an opportunity to resolve details in an object smaller than a wavelength."
The team works in the rapidly emerging field of metamaterials - artificially created substances with properties not found in nature.
Under normal electromagnetic conditions, light passing through a flat lens will diverge; light passing through a lens made of metamaterials, however, will bend the "wrong" way and become focused.
Their study reveals that when evanescent waves - weak but important waves that lose strength quickly after leaving their source - are directed through their flat metamaterial lens, these waves are amplified.
At the same time, the lens corrects the phase of the waves by focusing the diverging waves into a beam. Metamaterial lenses, when constructed at optical frequencies, could be used to engineer the next generation of electronic devices at the nanometre scale, says Eleftheriades.
---
On the Net:
More science, space, and technology from RedNova
Related Articles
- SMPTE 2008 to Honor Entertainment Technology Innovators From Top Corporations and Universities at Gala Event
- SpineSmith Signs Distribution Agreement With WAVE Manufacturing
- Laramide Adds Third Rig at Westmoreland As Results Continue to Demonstrate Continuity of Mineralization
- Laramide Intersects 58 Metres @ 0.12 % U3O8 at Westmoreland
- Universal Unveils Inaugural Slate of Film and TV Offerings Coming to Blu-Ray(TM) Disc Day and Date With DVD
- Anti-War Students Protest McCain Stance
- World's Largest Telescope Project Underway
- 'Birthmarks' in the Sky May Deflate Cosmic Inflation
- Saturn's Shadow and Titan's Glow Shed Light on a Complex System
- Understanding New Product Co-Development Relationships In Technology- Based, Industrial Markets
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds