The Quest for Ultimate Electromagnetics using Spatial Transformations (QUEST)

从马可尼第一次通过亨利·蒂泽德爵士的雷达进行跨大西洋无线传输到现代蜂窝通信，应用电磁学在20世纪的快速发展改变了我们的世界。现在，在21世纪，一场开发电磁(EM)的新革命正在兴起；这场革命结合了两个最新的发展：空间变换和新型电磁材料的设计和制造。空间变换(ST)的思想是为材料的空间排列分布提供全新的解决方案，以便能够以新的方式操纵电磁辐射的发射、传播和吸收。这远远超出了镜片和镜片形式的传统材料所能实现的范围，既需要传统材料，也需要具有自然界中不存在的特性的材料(即超材料)。它们是隐形隐形和视觉错觉等令人兴奋的想法的核心。为了大量制造所需的外来材料，将需要现代制造技术，包括使用纳米复合材料和梯度折射率涂层。通过加入活性超材料和超导介电复合材料，材料调色板可以进一步拓宽。作为可以设想的应用类型的一个例子，随时随地对无线通信的需求日益增长。然而，许多环境，如办公室和拥挤的购物中心，都存在障碍物和散射物，导致信号“混乱”。信号要么到达理想情况下不应该到达的地方，要么更糟糕的是，在需要它们的地方无法访问。目前的方法试图通过对接收信号进行额外的信号处理来处理这些问题，但这只能被视为临时解决方案。一个更具弹性的解决方案是改变当地的EM环境，以确保在任何给定地点的高质量接收，例如，通过使某些障碍物或散射体“看不见”来实现。基于STS概念的材料和器件提供了扭曲电磁空间的令人兴奋的前景，以克服由于障碍物和散射体造成的问题。这类应用程序是Quest项目的核心。我们将在医疗、安全、能源和数字经济领域与国防、航空航天和通信利益攸关方合作制造和展示几种设备。Quest解决方案将使英国在这一令人兴奋的领域处于领先地位，推动概念边界，同时探索设计和可制造性的实际问题。计划赠款将汇集来自物理、材料科学和电子工程的一批领先的英国实验者和理论家，共同应对空间转换(STS)和电磁(EM)领域出现的令人兴奋的机遇和挑战。然而，在跨越通信、能量转移、传感器和安全的更重要的应用中，潜在的ST方法的潜力比单独隐形具有更广泛的适用性。然而，理论和概念正在超越实际的论证和测试，导致在理论上和计算上的东西，以及在社会和商业中可以实现的东西之间存在不匹配。我们认为，现在是英国理论家、模型师、制造商和工程师共同努力保持英国在这一领域的实力的理想时机，明确的重点是减少对潜在激进新概念和设备的实践和演示。

From Marconi's first transatlantic wireless transmission through Sir Henry Tizard's radar to modern cellular communications, the rapid advance of applied electromagnetics during the 20th century has changed our world. Now, in the 21st century, a new revolution in exploiting electromagnetism (EM) is emerging; one that brings together two recent developments: spatial transformations and the design and fabrication of novel electromagnetic materials. The idea of spatial transformations (ST) is to provide entirely fresh solutions to the distribution of the spatial arrangement of materials so as to enable new ways to manipulate the emission, propagation and absorption of EM radiation. This goes far beyond what can be accomplished with traditional materials in the form of lenses and mirrors, requiring both conventional materials and also those with properties that do not exist in nature (i.e., metamaterials). ST are at the heart of exciting ideas such as invisibility cloaking and optical illusion. To make the required exotic materials in large quantities, modern fabrication techniques will be needed, including the use of nano-composites and graded-index coatings. The material palette can be further widened by the inclusion of active metamaterials and superconducting dielectric composites. As an example of the type of application one may envisage, there is an increasing demand for wireless communications anywhere and at any time. However, many environments such as offices and crowded shopping centres contain obstacles and scatterers that lead to signals being 'confused'. Signals either reach places they ideally should not, or worse, are not accessible where they are required. Current methods try to deal with these problems by additional signal processing of the received signals, but this can only be seen as an interim fix. A more resilient solution would be to modify the local EM environment so as to ensure quality reception at any given location by, for example, making certain obstacles or scatterers 'invisible'. Materials and devices based upon the concept of STs offer the exciting prospect of warping electromagnetic space so as to overcome problems due to obstacles and scatterers. Such applications are at the heart of the QUEST project. We will build and demonstrate several devices in collaboration with defence, aerospace and communication stakeholders in the areas of healthcare, security, energy and the digital economy. QUEST solutions will place the UK in a leading position in this exciting area, pushing the conceptual boundaries whilst at the same time exploring the practical problems of design and manufacturability.The Programme Grant will bring together a new grouping of leading UK experimentalists and theorists from physics, materials science and electronic engineering to work together on the exciting opportunities and challenges emerging in the area of spatial transformations (STs) and electromagnetism (EM). The potential of the underlying ST approaches however have much wider applicability than cloaking alone, in arguably more important applications that span communications, energy transfer, sensors and security. However, theory and concepts are outstripping practical demonstration and testing, leading to a mismatch in what may be theorised and computed and what can be realised for impact in society and commerce. We contend that the timing is now ideal for UK theorists, modellers, manufacturers and engineers to work together to maintain the UK strength in this field, with a clear focus on the reduction to practice and demonstration of potentially radical new concepts and devices.