Research Programs – Engheta Group

The research in our group is focused on the physics and engineering of fields and waves and the various features and characteristics of wave-matter interaction in metamaterials and metasurfaces. Under this umbrella of research interest, there are several research themes that we explore extensively. Some of these themes are listed below. A sample publication is shown for each theme given below. But, for details and more papers in each theme please see our relevant published papers in the section on “Publications”.

Photonic Analog Computing

See: N. Mohammadi Estakhri, B. Edwards, N. Engheta, “Inverse-Designed Metastructures that Solve Equations,” Science, Vol. 363, Issue 6433, pp. 1333-1338, March 22, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw2498

4D Optics, Spatiotemporal Metastructures and Time Metamaterials

See: V. Pacheco-Pena & N. Engheta, “Temporal Aiming,” Light: Science and Applications, Vol. 9:129, July 20, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-020-00360-1

Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) Optics and Near-Zero-Index (NZI) Photonics

See: I. Liberal and N. Engheta, “Near-Zero Refractive Index Photonics”, Nature Photonics, Vol. 11, pp. 149-158, March 2017. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.13

Inverse-Designed Metastructures

See: V. Nikkhah, D. Tzarouchis, A. Hoorfar, and N. Engheta, ““Inverse-designed Metastructures together with Reconfigurable Couplers to Compute Forward Scattering,” ACS Photonics, published online on September 8, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.2c00373

Nonlocal Metasurfaces

See: A. Silva, F. Monticone, G. Castaldi, V. Galdi, A. Alu, and N. Engheta, “”Performing Mathematical Operations with Metamaterials,” Science, Vol. 343, Issue 6167, pp. 160-163, January 10, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1242818

Epsilon-Near-Zero (ENZ) Nonlinear Optics

See: D. Solis and N. Engheta, “Nonreciprocal Epsilon-Near-Zero-Dielectric Bilayers: Enhancement of nonreciprocity from a nonlinear transparent conducting oxide thin film at epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) frequency,” Physical Review Applied, Vol. 17, 034053, March 2022. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.17.034053

Mach-Zehnder Interferometers (MZI) for Information Processing

See: D. Tzarouchis, M. J. Mencagli, B. Edwards, and N. Engheta, “Mathematical Operations and Equation Solving with Reconfigurable Metadevices,” Light: Science and Applications, 11:263, September 7, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-022-00950-1

NZI Quantum Optics

See: I. Liberal and N. Engheta, “Zero-Index Structures as an Alternative Platform for Quantum Optics,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published online January 17, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1611924114

Magnetic-Free Nonreciprocity

See: A. Fallah, Y. Kiasat, M. Silveirinha and N. Engheta, “Nonreciprocal guided waves in the presence of swift electron beams,” Physical Review B, Vol. 103, 214303, June 4, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.214303

Thermal Diffusion with Spatiotemporal Structures

See: M. Camacho, B. Edwards, and N. Engheta, “Achieving Asymmetry and Trapping in Diffusion with Spatiotemporal Metamaterials,” Nature Communications, 11:3733, July 24, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17550-5

Thermal Radiation in ENZ Structures

See: I. Liberal and N. Engheta, “Manipulating Thermal Emission with Spatially Static Fluctuating Fields in Arbitrarily-Shaped Epsilon-Near-Zero Bodies,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Vol. 115, No. 12, pp. 2878-2883, March 5, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1718264115

ENZ-based Levitation and Optomechanics

See: F. J. Rodríguez-Fortuño, A. Vakil, and N. Engheta, “Electric Levitation Using Epsilon-Near-Zero Metamaterials,” Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, 033902, January 22, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.033902