Quantum Today: Metamaterials for Broadband Light Absorption

Friday, February 3, 2023 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

Quantum Today: Metamaterials for Broadband Light Absorption

Join us for Quantum Today, where we sit down with researchers from the University of Waterloo’s Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) to talk about their work, its impact and where their research may lead.

Materials that absorb many different colours of light efficiently are essential to build powerful optical sensors, with applications in health care, precision imaging, quantum communication, and more. By carefully designing an array of semiconductor nanowires, IQC researchers have built a metamaterial that efficiently absorbs light across a wide range of colours where common sensors often fail. In this instalment of Quantum Today, Professor Michael Reimer and Dr. Sasan V. Grayli from IQC and the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering discuss their recent result and how it may be used in future technologies.

Find their publication, titled “Semiconductor nanowire metamaterial for broadband near-unity absorption” in Scientific Reports and on the arXiv.