Innovator journeys: Advanced materials
Video / September 17, 2024
Transcript
(SG) So the project for IDEaS that we had was to create some electromagnetic surfaces for camouflaging, for creating illusions, to fake electromagnetic signatures, to hide objects which are of strategic importance, and that range from microwaves to optics.
(PB) These are surfaces that we engineer to change the optical properties of the surfaces. We seek to do this in real time. We seek to redirect light, we seek to change the appearance of surfaces. And we seek to do this by mimicking the environment around which the metasurface will be located.
(SG) The end goal was to create a new technology, in which we can hide objects in different parts of the spectrum.
(PB) L'inspiration, c'est une vidéo d'une pieuvre que mon collègue, le professeur Gupta, m'a montrée. La pieuvre a l'habilité de changer son apparence en temps réel en fonction de l'environnement dans lequel la pieuvre se trouve, de sorte à se dissimuler par rapport à l'environnement.
The inspiration came from a video of an octopus that my colleague Professor Gupta showed me. The octopus has the ability to change its appearance in real time depending on the environment in which it finds itself, so as to conceal itself from the surroundings.
(SG) That's an advanced system that's working. An octopus can hide themselves, you know, like, in a complex background. So we can do something similar.
(PB) Donc, on tente autant que possible d'approximer, d'approcher les solutions que la nature a déjà apportées au problème de dissimulation et de camouflage.
So, as far as possible, we try to approximate the solutions that nature has already provided to the problem of concealment and camouflage.
(SG) So we're making surfaces which can adaptively hide their appearance. They can take objects, and they can, in real time, blend them into the background, if we wish. So, we are sort of like protecting important objects, people, tanks, assets; even go one step further, where we can even say, like, "Here's a fake illusion. It's not that object that you think; it's something else." It makes a perfect case for a military-type operation, if you wish.
(KM) So, working on a research project with a defence focus is very much motivating, in terms of developing these metasurface devices. It's important to develop these devices with military applications in mind, because it's more fulfilling to develop devices which can assist and help improve the safety of soldiers with the Canadian Armed Forces and our allies.
(PB) We use optical nanostructures, we use optical antennas, we use optical scatterers. These are small resonant objects for which the absorption and reflection properties can be tuned, depending on their size, depending on their material, the architecture with which these nanostructures are placed. And by changing the electromagnetic environment around these nanostructures, we can make them react to different stimuli, depending on the environment in which the metasurfaces find themselves.
(SG) And that was the original, like, motivation to apply it for some defence problems, to create scenarios in which any kind of, like, detection of an object becomes difficult. So, from radars to optics, from visible light to infrared. Some of these important objects could be sort of, like, hidden from electromagnetic, you know, interrogation. And needless to say, I mean, financially, it was a good program to work with as well. So, we had all kinds of freedom to work on a focused problem, and I think it's an ideal scenario for a research team.