Creating a brighter, faster and more portable future
Electromagnetic fields are all around us. Every time we switch on a light or press a key on our computer keyboard, these fields transmit information to communicate the desired outcome. Light is also an electromagnetic wave. Electromagnetics play a significant role in contributing to the development of many new technologies.
From high-speed internet connections and more secure communication to night vision goggles and virtual reality – electromagnetics is changing the world as we know it. The next generation of sensors, wireless communications, imaging, and computing systems will be based on the sophisticated manipulation of acoustic and electromagnetic fields at the smallest scale. This technology presents exciting opportunities and enormous potential for future discoveries, which will enable smart, highly efficient devices with new functionalities.
Associated schools, institutes & centres
Impact
Combining nanophotonics, metamaterials, and quantum optics, Advanced Electromagnetic research at UNSW Canberra looks at acoustic and electromagnetic wave propagation, manipulation, and application to drive future innovations across energy and the environment, health and medicine, communications, computing and security.
- Nanophotonic research examines the science and application of light at the nanoscale. At such a small scale, the light and matter interaction can be significantly enhanced allowing for new applications that differ from those we are familiar with on an everyday scale. Using nanophotonics we can create new structures to manipulate light at a more precise level.
- Metamaterials are artificially structured materials that exhibit electromagnetic properties not seen, or available in nature. They are created on a small scale to manipulate or alter incoming waves like light or sound, causing them to behave in an unusual way.
- Quantum optics looks at the interaction of photons, the smallest particles of light, with matter at submicroscopic levels. The study of how photons interact with matter is crucial in understanding and revealing the hidden properties of light particles for entanglement, teleportation, and secure quantum information processing.
Our research has supported advances in a variety of transformative products and services and is helping develop resilient devices for defence applications including:
- novel electromagnetic sources and detectors
- metamaterials for acoustic and electromagnetic isolation
- contributing to the development of world-leading systems for optical quantum computing
- controlling millimetre wave beams for automotive applications
- boosting the capability of sensors and devices based on metasurfaces platform.
Our experiments cover acoustic, microwave, millimetre wave, terahertz and optical frequencies that have a range of applications across electrical and optoelectronic engineering. Our theoretical work has pushed the boundaries of quantum mechanics and the experimental investigation of quantum gravity, the emulation and investigation of topological properties of materials, and quantum phenomena in electromagnetic and acoustic systems.
Competitive advantage
- We apply a combination of fundamental and applied expertise to link concepts from engineering and physics across the electromagnetic and acoustic spectrum.
- We're home to several world-class facilities including:
- experimental facilities for microwave and millimetre wave measurement
- acoustic facilities that cover audio frequency and ultrasonic ranges
- a laser laboratory for material characterisation (Class 3B and 4 lasers at 900-1000 nm range, UV LEDs, class 1 visible lasers, optical fibres, spectrum analysers, Raman spectrometer)
- world-leading experimental facilities in quantum optics: infrared fibre laser (5W, CW at 1550 nm), Titanium-Sapphire laser (2W, CW at 860 nm), Nd:YAG laser (500mW, CW at 1064 nm), a fast quantum-noise limited detectors and a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector.
Successful applications
- Tunable holographic displays and smart AR/VR glasses
- Design of lightweight night vision goggles
- Highly efficient acoustic metasurfaces
- Smart textile based on tailored electromagnetic response for personal heat management and anti-viral properties
- Squeezing and entanglement in quantum optomechanical systems
- Optical neural networks
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Our group encompasses both fundamental and applied research, with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and extensive collaborations with industry:
- Seeing Machines, Australia
- IEE SA, Luxembourg
- ASR Corporation, United States
- Q-Ctrl, Australia
- ARC Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems
- Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology
- Transformative Meta-Optical Systems
We also have links with Defence
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- A. Melnikov et al., ‘Acoustic meta-atom with experimentally verified maximum Willis coupling’,Nature Communications, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 3148, Jul. 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10915-5
- A. E. Olk, P. E. M. Macchi, and D. A. Powell, ‘High-Efficiency Refracting Millimeter-WaveMetasurfaces’, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 5453–5462, Jul. 2020, DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2020.2975840.
- J. Scott Tyo, M. D. Abdalla and M. C. Skipper, "Differentially Fed High-Power Microwave Antennas Using Capacitively Coupled Hyperband Inverters," in IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 67, no. 8, pp. 5203-5211, Aug. 2019, doi: 10.1109/TAP.2019.2917473.
- Abdul Khaleque and Haroldo T. Hattori,Tunable composite graphene-silica pseudonoise gratings; IEEE Photonics Technology letters, 28, 677-680 (2016)
- Haroldo T. Hattori, Khalil As, Ahasanul Haque, Ziyuan Li, Benjamin Olbricht, A tale of two tantalum borides as potential saturable absorbers for Q-switched fiber lasers, IEEE Photonics Journal, 11, paper 1502712 (2019).
- F. Lenzini, J. Janousek, O. Thearle, M. Villa, B. Haylock, S. Kasture, L. Cui, H. Phan, D. Viet Dao, H. Yonezawa, P. Koy Lam, E. H. Huntington, and M. Lobino, 'Integrated photonicplatform for quantum information with continuous variables', Science Advances 4, eaat9331 (2018).
- S. Yokoyama, D. Peace, W. Asavanant, T. Tajiri, B. Haylock, M. Ghadimi, M. Lobino, E. H. Huntington, H. Yonezawa, 'Feasibility study of a coherent feedback squeezer.' Physical Review A 101, 033802 (2020).
- C. F Ockeloen-Korppi, E. Damskagg, J.-M. Pirkkalainen, M. Asjad, A. A. Clerk, F. Massel, M. J. Woolley, and M. A. Sillanpaa, ‘Stabilized entanglement of massive mechanical oscillators’,Nature 556, 478-482 (2018).
- M. J. Woolley and A. A. Clerk, ‘Two-mode squeezed states in cavity optomechanics’, Phys Rev A 89, 063805 (2014).
- A. I. Kuznetsov, A. E. Miroshnichenko, M. L. Brongersma, Y. S. Kivshar, and B. Luk’yanchuk, ‘Optically resonant dielectric nanostructures,’ Science 354, aag2472 (2016), DOI: 10.1126/science.aag2472
- L. J. Maczewsky, et al. ‘Synthesizing multi-dimensional excitation dynamics and localization transition in one-dimensional lattices.’ Nature Photonics 14, 76–81 (2020), DOI: 10.1038/s41566-019-0562-8
- K. Ou, et al., ‘Mid-infrared polarization-controlled broadband achromatic metadevice’, Science Advances 6, eabc0711 (2020), DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc0711
Study with us
We have supervised more than 20 final year projects in Advanced Electromagnetics covering topics such as photovoltaics, metasurfaces and LIDARs for imaging, and autonomous driving. We also teach sections of the elective course Microgrids and Renewable Energy.
