Metallic metamaterials and plasmonics

Professor Bill Barnes has been fascinated by the interaction between molecules and light since his PhD (1983-86). Much of his work has concerned changing the way molecules absorb, emit and transfer energy in the form of light. His research is primarily experimental in nature, involving the fabrication and study of molecules confined to well-defined nanostructures. Now he is particularly concerned with looking at how light may be used to link molecules together in new ways, especially because such an approach enables a radical modification of molecular properties. His interests extend widely, he has been involved in projects spanning physical geography, manuscript studies and astrophysics.

Alastair Paul Hibbins was born in Somerset, United Kingdom in 1975. He received both BSc and PhD degrees in Physics from the University of Exeter, UK in 1996 and 2000 respectively. His PhD research work considered grating coupling of surface plasmon polaritons at visible and microwave frequencies. He continued to undertake microwave studies of photonic structures as a member of the same research group for a further four years. In October 2004 he was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship with the aim of modelling the electromagnetic response of, building, and characterising a wide range of photonic microstructured devices for use at microwave frequencies. He was appointed as a Lecturer at the University of Exeter in April 2007, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2013. He now has a group of research staff and students working on microwave and acoustic metamaterials, and is co-director of the EPSRC Centre of Doctoral Training in Metamaterials at Exeter.

Professor John Roy Sambles FRS, studied Physics at Imperial College London, obtaining a first class honours degree in 1967 and a PhD in solid state physics in 1970. In 2002 he was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society for his contribution to a broad range of research on the fundamentals of melting, spin waves in metals, molecular rectification, liquid crystal optics and plasmonics. He has supervised 75 PhD students and published over 500 papers in international journals. Latest among several awards has been the Faraday medal of the Institute of Physics in 2012.

At Exeter he leads the Electromagnetic and Acoustic Materials research team, exploring the response of electromagnetic and acoustic Metamaterials, and is also Director of the large EPSRC funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Electromagnetic Metamaterials, which commenced in April 2014. He is currently President Elect of the Institute of Physics.

Nader Engheta is the H. Nedwill Ramsey Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  He received his PhD degree from Caltech. Selected as one of the Scientific American Magazine 50 Leaders in Science and Technology in 2006 for developing the concept of optical lumped nanocircuits, he is a Guggenheim Fellow, an IEEE Third Millennium Medalist, a Fellow of IEEE, APS, OSA, SPIE, and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the recipient of numerous awards for his research including 2014 Balthasar van der Pol Gold Medal from URSI, 2013 Benjamin Franklin Key Award, 2013 Inaugural SINA Award in Engineering, 2012 IEEE Electromagnetics Award, 2008 George H. Heilmeier Award for Excellence in Research, the Fulbright Naples Chair Award, NSF Presidential Young Investigator award, the UPS Foundation Distinguished Educator term Chair, and several teaching awards. He has co-edited the book entitled “Metamaterials:  Physics and Engineering Explorations” by Wiley-IEEE Press, 2006. He was the Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Plasmonics in June 2012.