Sigma Xi Science Cafe features Dr. Andrii Golovin from the Liquic Crystal Institute at Kent State on Monday, March 1

Dr. William Wozniak
professor, Department of Psychology, 308.865.8242

UNK Chapter of Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society will present a
Science Café at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 1,
at Thunderhead Brewery (second floor), 18 East 21st St.  The presentation
is free and open to the public.

Dr. Andrii Golovin
The Liquid Crystal Institute
Kent State University

Electrically Reconfigurable Optical Metamaterial Based on Colloidal
Dispersion of Metal Nano-Rods in Dielectric Fluid

Optical metamaterials capture the imagination with breathtaking promises of
nanoscale resolution in imaging and invisibility cloaking. We demonstrate
an approach to construct a metamaterial in which metallic nanorods, of
dimension much smaller than the wavelength of light, are suspended in a
fluid and placed in a nonuniform electric field. The field controls the
spatial distribution and orientation of nanorods because of the
dielectrophoretic effect. The field-controlled placement of nanorods causes
optical effects such as varying refractive index, optical anisotropy
(birefringence), and imperfect cloak.