August 2004 |
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Volume 03, Issue
4 |
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Tech Talk |
Bending microwaves the ‘wrong’ way BY TOM KOEHLER Boeing research scientists, working with physicists at the University of California–San Diego and other universities under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract, have been demonstrating something new about the law of refraction, one of the oldest of the laws of physics. The team’s discoveries involve the fabrication of a new class of artificial materials called “metamaterials” that bend electromagnetic waves in a manner not seen in nature. Such a capability could someday prove useful in the development of significantly smaller, more-powerful and lower-cost antennas and other electromagnetic devices, and could also lead to the development of improved lenses capable of focusing light and other forms of radiation to limits not achievable by normal lenses. Science magazine cited these discoveries earlier this year in its list of the top 10 science breakthroughs of 2003. And the June 2004 edition of Physics Today magazine, the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physics, showcased a photo of a Boeing-built metamaterial sample on its cover. “We have been learning a lot more about the novel properties of electromagnetic metamaterials,” said Minas Tanielian, manager of Microsystems and Electronics Technology in Boeing Phantom Works. “Although this technology is still in its infancy, it is clear that it could have a tremendous effect on many aerospace products.” In its work under the $5.6 million DARPA contract, the Boeing-led team has been engineering and fabricating metamaterials to gain a better understanding of the physics of electromagnetic materials, particularly those that demonstrate a “negative index of refraction.” Materials found in nature always bend electromagnetic waves in the same direction, giving those materials a “positive index of refraction.” “Our objectives have been to improve existing tools for modeling and simulating more complicated patterns and lattices in the metamaterials, to fabricate the materials using various materials and processes, to test the electromagnetic behavior of the metamaterials in the laboratory and in aerospace environments, and to identify applications where such materials can make a big difference,” Tanielian said.
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