Metamaterials are manmade media with all sorts of unusual and useful functionalities (varying from negative refractive index to optical invisibility cloaks and quantum effects) that can be achieved by artificial structuring smaller than the length scale of light. The project concerns computational and theoretical studies of electromagnetic properties of metamaterials. When circuit resonators in metamaterial arrays interact strongly, the response of a collection of resonators can become fundamentally different from that of an isolated resonator -light waves can even become localized inside the sample. We investigate these strong collective interactions between the nano-emitters, the effects of disorder, preparation of a gain medium for laser applications and possibilities for using superconducting circuits to create highly nonlinear systems.

The work will be in a close collaboration with experimentalists. The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council UK (EPSRC) has awarded the University of Southampton £6.3M to establish the Centre for Nanostructured Photonic Metamaterials. and this innovative and interdisciplinary research programme crosses normal boundaries between several science and engineering disciplines. The aim of the programme is to develop a new generation of switchable and active photonic media.

If you wish to discuss any details of the project informally, please contact Prof Janne Ruostekoski, Applied Mathematics research group, Email: janne<στο>soton.ac.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 2380 59 5142.

Funding information: This project is in competition with others for the associated funding. The funding covers EU/UK fees and stipend. 

This project is run through participation in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling (http://ngcm.soton.ac.uk).