Johnathan Samorajski, 2012, Mathematics

Johnathan Samorajski ’12

This summer, I worked on a theoretical project involving radiation-matter interaction. This is very important in energy research, especially in the areas of fusion sciences and solar radiation conversion. Research on the subject has moved beyond the question of what physics actually underlies this interaction, to explore how materials and radiation can be tailored in order to influence and even control this fundamental interaction. One of the areas in which this study is being pursued is that of cloaking. In this area, a primary goal is to create materials that can shape the path and radiation pattern of light in order to make that material appear invisible to an observer. A natural extension to this quest is to tailor the light incident on the cloak in such a way that it can interact with the cloak in order to create a different radiation pattern to make the cloak visible to the observer. Whereas cloaking attempts to control the fundamental radiation-matter interaction by tailoring the material, decloaking attempts to control this by tailoring the incident radiation. My summer research aimed to first understand and formulate the recently emerging documented cloaking effect and then to discover if light can be tailored to undermine this effect. Over the course of the summer, I was able to gain this understanding of cloaking that I sought. However, I plan to continue this work, throughout the year, to delve into decloaking.