New $1.62M collaboration in Nova Scotia will advance light-manipulation research

Dalhousie University, Metamaterial Technologies Inc. (MTI) and Mitacs have launched a $1.62-million research collaboration to explore light manipulation for use in sectors ranging from aviation to healthcare. The largest-ever Mitacs-supported project (through Mitacs’s research internship program) in the region will build the research partnership between the university and MTI, headquartered in Halifax, while attracting the best new researchers in the area of metamaterials science, the partners say. Metamaterials science involves innovative technologies for blocking, absorbing or enhancing light. The new project will encompass different applications for metamaterials: absorption enhancement of ultra-thin solar cells; light emission enhancement for LEDs; development of optical filters; and improvement of medical diagnostics. George Palikaras, founder and CEO of MTI, says he expects the partnership will lead to breakthroughs in metamaterials applications and nanofabrication techniques that will reshape the field of optics.