Weird Science
David Smith studies metamaterials and how they turn our understanding of physics inside out
Metamaterials
Duke ECE is home to world leaders in metamaterials and metasurfaces. Our faculty members demonstrated the world’s first negative refractive index metamaterial in 2000, and in 2006 a Duke ECE engineer invented a metamaterial “invisibility cloak” that renders objects undetectable at microwave frequencies. Currently, a $7.5 million DoD investment funds our proving ground for acoustic metamaterials, while eight companies—and counting—have grown from our research.
Research Areas
- Electromagnetic metamaterials and metasurfaces
- Quantum nanophotonics
- Plasmonics
- Nonlinear, transformation and fiber optics
- Electromagnetic cloaking
Highlights
Capturing All of Light’s Data in One Snapshot
Duke engineers to lead $7.5 million Department of Defense project to create a “super camera” that can capture and process a wide range of light’s properties
Trapping and Twisting Light for Tomorrow’s Technologies
Two metamaterials researchers at Duke are manipulating light at the highest frequencies currently possible to enable applications such as precision agriculture and high-bandwidth communications
Associated Faculty
Steven A. Cummer
Associate Chair, William H. Younger Distinguished Professor of Engineering
Natalia Litchinitser
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Maiken Mikkelsen
James N. and Elizabeth H. Barton Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
David R. Smith
Associate Chair, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of ECE
Other Research Specialties
Explore additional specialty research areas in Duke ECE and throughout the Pratt School of Engineering.