PhD call: B2 – Metamaterials and metasurfaces for space applications

The University of Trento opens the second call for applications for the admission to the 39th Cycle (Academic Year 2023/2024) of the Doctoral Programme in “Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering” as follows: Deadline for application: September 4th, 2023, hrs. 4.00 PM (Italian time, GMT +2). 

The selection foresees some short online test starting from the 11 September 2023.

It is announced on the UniTrento website: https://www.unitn.it/ateneo/663/concorso-di-ammissione  

The goal of this thesis is to introduce a holistic approach to the design of metamaterials and metasurfaces for mechanical and/or space applications. Wave focusing and energy harvesting at ultralow frequencies should be tackled. Nonetheless, electromagnetic issues for frequencies between 10 GHz – 20 GHz and both far- and near-field radiation control should be considered. Moreover, thermal, structural and random -geometrical and material - issues should be part of the design. In this respect, novel concepts are going to be explored, like structured fabrics that derive their properties both from the constitutive materials and their geometry. Therefore, their design can target desirable characteristics, such as wave focusing of mechanical waves, high impact resistance, thermal regulation or electrical conductivity. Also, multifunctional properties of chiral mechanical metamaterials can be explored in view of vibration attenuation and bandgap features, impact energy absorption and negative coefficient of thermal expansion.
By means of this approach, for instance, the control of the aperture field above the metasurface could be pursued to generate the desired radiation pattern. Thus, arbitrary aperture distribution could be generated with control on amplitude, phase and polarization. The objectives of this thesis are summarized below:
1- Use of structured fabrics for tunable mechanical properties
2- Adoption of chiral mechanical metamaterials for multifunctional applications
3- Metamaterials and metasurfaces capable of generation with arbitrary phase and amplitude distribution radiation patterns in the case of EM waves
4- Validation of the design procedure with numerical simulations and experiments capable of taking into account uncertainty issues.

B2 – Metamaterials and metasurfaces for space applications (Scientific contact persons: Oreste S. Bursi, Marco Broccardo, Giacomo Oliveri)

Duration: Three years

Start of the Academic Year: November 1st, 2023

 

Official language: English

For research clarifications/issues, please email to oreste.bursi [at] unitn.it (oreste[dot]bursi[at]unitn[dot]it)  For administration issues, please refer to dicamphd [at] unitn.it (dicamphd[at]unitn[dot]it) . Thank you.