IUCRC Phase III University of North Carolina at Charlotte: Center for Metamaterials (CfM)

北卡罗来纳大学夏洛特分校（UNCC）的超材料中心（CfM）专注于超材料的研究和开发。超材料是人造材料，它提供了新的方法来控制光的流动，并使复杂的过滤和检测成为可能。超材料正在对传感、成像、天线和能量收集产生影响。该中心的主要重点是超材料的光学、红外和雷达应用。CfM内执行的项目是协作开发的。本研究由研究生和本科生在CfM教授和中心成员的指导下进行。许多学生来自科学和工程领域代表性不足的群体，他们从行业成员那里获得指导；这种指导为他们毕业后的职业生涯做准备。CfM有助于训练有素和高技能的科学家和工程师的劳动力发展。CfM的教师和学生与成员（行业和政府）密切合作，开发新知识，新材料的能力和软件工具，以基本理解和实际设计超材料。技术路线图为将项目目标聚类为更具体的目标提供了一个框架。为了确保中心的长期成功和生存能力，中心的工作重点是广泛的商业相关应用的超材料研究。CfM的目标是更好地理解和利用与这些结构材料相关的新特性。在CfM中，有许多基础科学问题需要解决，涉及理解和建模当电磁波或机械波与亚波长大小的结构相互作用时发生的物理过程。共振行为结合有效介质描述可以用来预测不寻常的材料性质，如负或零折射率。利用亚波长元素、表面模式和复合材料的共振行为，都需要更完整的描述和对场-物质相互作用的更深入的理解。新出现的长期挑战是设计低损耗、宽带、可调、低成本和可大规模制造的材料特性，以适应技术应用。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Center for Metamaterials (CfM) at University of North Carolina in Charlotte (UNCC) focuses on the research and development of metamaterials. Metamaterials are man-made materials that and offer new ways to control the flow of light and enable sophisticated filtering and detection. Metamaterials are making an impact on sensing, imaging, antennas, and energy harvesting. The Center's primary focus is on optical, infrared and radar applications of metamaterials. The projects conducted within the CfM are developed collaboratively. The research is conducted by graduate and undergraduate students under the guidance of CfM professors and Center members. Students, many of whom come from under-represented groups in science and engineering, obtain mentorship from the industry members; this mentorship prepares them for professional careers after graduation. The CfM contributes to the workforce development of trained and highly skilled scientists and engineers. The faculty and students at CfM work in close collaboration with members (industry and government) to develop new knowledge, new materials' capabilities, and software tools for the fundamental understanding and practical design of metamaterials. The technology roadmap provides a framework for the clustering of project objectives into more specific goals. To ensure the long-term success and viability of the Center, efforts focus on metamaterials research for a broad range of commercially relevant applications. CfM goals are to better understand and exploit the new properties associated with these structured materials. Within the CfM there are many foundational scientific questions to be addressed, concerning understanding and modeling the physical processes that occur when electromagnetic or mechanical waves interact with subwavelength sized structures. Resonant behavior combined with effective medium descriptions can be used to predict unusual material properties such as negative or zero refractive index. Exploiting resonant behavior in subwavelength elements, surface patterns, and composites, all demand more complete descriptions and a deeper understanding of field-matter interactions. The emerging long-term challenge is to engineer material properties that are low loss, broadband, tunable, low-cost, and manufacturable at scales relevant for technological applications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.