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Multiscale Design Enabling Modeling (MDM)


NTX development is hindered by both technology limitations and limited availability of modelling and design tools covering an extremely large range of spatial and time scales. MDM’s goal is the investigation, modelling and design of a new generation of integrated, smart, multi-functional materials, devices, circuits and systems. This requires a bridge across the gap between nano-science theoretical foundations and the implementation of advanced numerical tools. Being inter-leaved with the modeling, system architecture by design (SAD) constitutes the engineering paradigm on which the framework, as well as several current and innovative design methods and algorithms, can be merged to enable the design/optimization of engineering NTX systems. SAD involves task-oriented design, definition, and integration of Nanoarchitectronic system components to achieve desired performance with minimum costs, maximum scalability and optimal reconfigurability.

Nanoscale Material Engineering (NAME)


Recent advances in Nanotechnology made possible realizing nano-composites, a class of composites where one or more separate phases have dimension in the nano-scale range (<100nm). Nanocomposites are of great interest because they are intrinsically multifunctional materials, and by the joining of different phases they generate themselves unique and high performance materials. Consequently, it is possible, in principle, to design a composite (or hybrid) material for specifically targeted properties with a precise and specific combination of phases, also aiming at creating a new generation of photonic crystals. The use of different kinds of composites, starting from the classical combinations of two or more different materials, can bring a superior and unique material with new features (e.g. valleytronics, featuring controlled presence of a local maximum/minimum on the valence/conduction band) exploitable for improved mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. This technology is likely compatible with future generation of 3D printing technology.

Extreme Scale Electromagnetic Interactions (EXEMI)


The main issues of EXEMI are: i) to insert quantum effects in the concept of the EM systems, bringing established EM concepts and architectures at nanoscale levels, and ii) to control/reconfigure NTX-based EM systems by nanoscale wave-matter interactions. This will enable the design of novel materials at different length scales at which elementary particles/quasi-particles such as photons, electrons, phonons and atoms “communicate”, interacting through mutual energy transfer.

Surfacetronics (SFX)


Several technologies are emerging to provide with modulation of metasurface responses using mechanical, electrical, or optical control. Reduced dimension allows realizing unconventional devices without volumetric counterparts. We aim at developing a next generation of nanostructured metasurfaces as artificial and bio-inspired “skins”, able to adapt themselves to the environment, being cognitive and reconfigurable as well. SFX is aimed at combining radiating and sensing functions for future communication beyond 5G, namely antennas, radars, and body area networks.

Metatronics (MTX)


MTX brings a new dimension to metamaterial research with emerging challenges to make material properties dynamically controllable in both space and time. This would open a multitude of new applications and scientific explorations like: emulating electronic circuits at optical frequency based upon wave interacting with nanoparticles, creating space/time transformation materials, artificial non-reciprocity, and “computational metamaterials”, namely materials that can perform mathematical operations on input signals (e.g. Fourier transform) directly by interacting with signal encoding EM waves.