Watch or Download Claire's Video Here on Vimeo on YouTube
Can't watch the video now? Read what's in the video here
Low resolution version of the poster available here: (pdf) (jpeg) (online)
Metamaterials are materials which have a particular internal structure so they can control the way electromagnetic waves (e.g. signals for mobile phones and radar (radio waves), wi-fi (microwaves), and visible light) move through or around them.
Since the pioneering work by John Pendry of Imperial College London in 1999, various metamaterials have been made, but almost all by complex lab-based techniques such as milling thousands of microscopic holes into a block of material in a precise way. These techniques cannot be transferred easily to industrial manufacturing methods.
In my research I am investigating ways to manufacture metamaterials by industrial-scale methods, but without losing the structure which gives them their unique properties. By using carefully controlled spraying techniques, commercially available 3D printers, and extrusion I aim to bring the unique properties of these exciting new materials closer to being part of our day-to-day lives.
Find out more about metamaterials:
Wikipedia on Metamaterials
John Pendry Talks about Butterfly Wings and Metamaterials (video)
Metamaterials (video)
Find out more about electromagnetism:
Wikipedia on Electromagnetism
BBC Radio Podcast about Maxwell's Equations of Electromagnetism
BBC Radio Podcast about Radiation
