Enabling Metamaterial Platforms for Communications, Sensing, and Imaging

实现通信、传感和成像的超材料平台

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-04645
• 负责人: Iyer, Ashwin
• 金额: $ 2.26万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=683848
• 关键词: Enabling; Metamaterial; Platforms; Communications; Sensing

In building a better device or system, we are ultimately bound by the properties of the materials available to us. The advent of engineered metamaterials (MTMs) effectively removes this constraint, as they afford us unprecedented versatility in achieving, controlling, and manipulating electromagnetic (EM) waves for useful purposes. Among the research successes of my first NSERC Discovery grant was the discovery of several new MTM-enabled properties, which we expect will lead to important new design paradigms and device functionalities that can benefit industries ranging from telecommunications to biomedicine. The proposed research program shall leverage these early results and pursue other fundamental directions suggested by them, towards a long-term goal of establishing a MTM-design platform that addresses the current, critical need for (1) high-frequency techniques, (2) low-cost/complexity solutions, (3) a multitude of geometries, and (4) tunable/adaptive properties. This shall be achieved through four short-term objectives: the first will develop analytical tools enabling cylindrical or other shaped MTM geometries to be analyzed/synthesized based on techniques developed for more familiar rectangular geometries; the second is focused on the realization of fully printed and easily assembled MTM imaging and sensing devices employing tunable materials in useful high-frequency regimes such as the millimetre- (mm-) wave; the third shall employ the results of the first objective to implement cylindrical MTM liners to miniaturize circular-waveguide-based systems including probe antennas and traveling-wave magnetic-resonance imaging (TW-MRI) scanners; the last will extend our waveguide-miniaturization concepts to develop compact 'metasurfaces' (MTSs) consisting of miniaturized apertures for use as radiation-pattern-shaping antenna substrates/superstrates and EM shields. These objectives are rich in analytical and computational value, but are ultimately structured for rapid experimental validation and practical application, and they are expected to fully leverage the University of Alberta's world-class microfabrication facilities. This practical focus shall also integrate the needs of Canadian industrial partners, resulting in direct benefits to Canadian R & D and engendering confidence in the commercial viability of MTMs. My long-term vision is to see MTMs adopted by industry as a mainstream alternative to conventional materials in the realization of smaller, more efficient, or cheaper devices and to sustain commercial interest by continued academic exploration of their useful properties. The interdisciplinary nature of the proposed research program affords unique and ample opportunities to train HQP in a wide range of tools and techniques, and will encourage expertise in MTMs research, much of which originated in Canada, to remain and grow in Canada.**

在建造更好的设备或系统时，我们最终会受到可用材料的特性的约束。工程超材料(MTM)的出现有效地消除了这一限制，因为它们为我们提供了前所未有的多功能性，以实现、控制和操纵电磁波的有用目的。在我的第一笔NSERC Discovery赠款的研究成功中，发现了几种新的MTM特性，我们预计这将带来重要的新设计范例和设备功能，可以使从电信到生物医学的各种行业受益。拟议的研究计划将利用这些早期成果，并追求他们建议的其他基本方向，朝着建立MTM设计平台的长期目标前进，该平台满足当前对(1)高频技术、(2)低成本/复杂性解决方案、(3)多种几何形状和(4)可调/自适应特性的迫切需求。这将通过四个短期目标实现：第一个将开发分析工具，使圆柱形或其他形状的MTM几何形状能够在为更熟悉的矩形几何形状开发的技术的基础上进行分析/综合；第二个目标侧重于实现全印刷和易于组装的MTM成像和传感设备，在诸如毫米波等有用的高频区域使用可调材料；第三个目标将利用第一个目标的结果实现圆柱形MTM衬垫，以实现基于圆形波导的系统的小型化，包括探测天线和行波磁共振成像扫描仪；最后一项将扩展我们的波导小型化概念，以开发由小型化孔径组成的紧凑型“准表面”(MTSS)，用作辐射方向图成形天线的基板/上层和电磁屏蔽。这些目标具有丰富的分析和计算价值，但最终是为快速实验验证和实际应用而构建的，预计它们将充分利用艾伯塔大学的世界级微制造设施。这一实践重点还应结合加拿大工业合作伙伴的需要，为加拿大的研发带来直接利益，并增强人们对技术转让商业可行性的信心。我的长期愿景是看到MTM在实现更小、更高效或更便宜的设备方面被业界采用，成为传统材料的主流替代品，并通过继续对其有用特性的学术探索来保持商业兴趣。拟议的研究计划的跨学科性质为HQP提供了独特和充足的机会，使其能够在广泛的工具和技术方面进行培训，并将鼓励MTM研究方面的专业知识留在加拿大并在加拿大发展。