Dalhousie University, Metamaterial Technologies Inc. (MTI), and non-profit Mitacs have announced a $1.62 million collaboration to research the process of light manipulation through metamaterials.
The collaboration will be the largest Mitacs-supported project in Atlantic Canada, and aims to attract new researchers and inventors in metamaterials science. This is a relatively new scientific field, and concerns understanding the nature of light and how it can be applied.
The collaboration will be the largest Mitacs-supported project in Atlantic Canada, and aims to attract new researchers and inventors in metamaterials science.
The project will cover different applications of metamaterials, including absorption enhancement of ultra-thin solar cells using metamaterials, light emission enhancement for LEDs, development of optical filters using metamaterials, and the improvement of medical diagnostics using metamaterials.
“Our partnership with Mitacs and Metamaterial Technologies Inc. allows us to recruit and train a number of new PhDs in advanced materials and nanotechnology and conduct the type cutting edge research that has the potential to disrupt the way the world works today,” said Dr. Alice Aiken, vice president of research and innovation at Dalhousie University.
Dr. Aiken also noted the government’s continued support of Mitacs. Last year, Mitacs worked with the University of Guelph in support of RightMesh, a SaaS company.
MTI is a smart materials and photonics company originally based in England, which then moved its headquarters to Halifax in 2011.
“Materials research is complex and Mitacs researchers allow us to investigate research questions pushing the boundaries of conventional knowledge,” Dr. George Palikaras, founder and CEO of MTI said. “We believe that the partnership with Dalhousie University will lead to new breakthroughs in metamaterials, applications, and nanofabrication techniques that will re-shape how we think about optics.”
Featured image via Pixabay.