Unromantic Engineers Figure Out How To Catch Rainbows
Sunday, February 17, 2013 - 14:10
in Physics & Chemistry
Engineers from the University at Buffalo engineers have created technology that could lead to breakthroughs in solar energy, stealth technology and other areas - but they had to catch some rainbows first. Qiaoqiang Gan, PhD, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University at Buffalo, and a team of graduate students developed a "hyperbolic metamaterial waveguide," which is essentially an advanced microchip made of alternate ultra-thin films of metal and semiconductors and/or insulators. The waveguide halts and ultimately absorbs each frequency of light, at slightly different places in a vertical direction to catch a "rainbow" of wavelengths. read more