11/07/2025 at 11:00, Seminar Room, Building RM004
The field of metamaterials, artificial engineered materials, has been rapidly evolving in the past two decades, demonstrating extreme optical phenomena and unprecedented control over wave propagation. In this talk, I discuss recent developments in this field of research, with an emphasis on the role of symmetries in establishing emerging optical responses for metamaterials based on otherwise simple constituents. Geometrical rotations, suitably tailored perturbations, and broken time reversal symmetry can be carefully engaged to tailor waves in robust and efficient ways, control their propagation, enable nonlocal resonant interactions, and break Lorentz reciprocity. In my talk, I will discuss the underlying physical principles that span over a wide range of frequencies, and their impact on practical technologies, from imaging, energy and sensing to computing and communications.