DMS Colloquium: Professor Graeme Milton

Speaker: Professor Graeme Milton, University of Utah

Title: Metamaterials and Mathematics

Abstract: Metamaterials are basically composite materials with properties or a combination of properties not found in nature. Typically they are made by combining materials with highly contrasting phases. There has been an explosion of interest in them due to a wealth of potential applications, and the unprecedented ability we now have to tailor make desired microstructures.  In practice the operation of many metamaterials is not in the homogenization limit  so  mathematics needs to be developed to satisfactorily account for their properties. Numerical algorithms and particularly optimization codes also need to be developed as a tool for designing new microstructures. In addition there is a wealth of relatively unexplored areas, such as non-linear metamaterials, metamaterials with dynamic microstructures, and more generally active metamaterials with controllable properties. 

Progress in developing an understanding of them would be greatly accelerated by mathematicians. There is a lot of excitement in the field, and as a result a lot of speculative and some dubious claims have been made. Mathematics is needed to separate truth from fiction.​

Host: Junshan Lin