EXTREME: Extreme Optics and Imaging

The goal of the EXTREME Program is to develop new optical components, devices, systems, architectures and design tools using Engineered Optical Materials (EnMats) to enable new functionality and/or vastly improve size, weight, and power characteristics of traditional optical systems. 

EnMats are broadly defined to include, but are not limited to, metamaterials (both metallic and dielectric), scattering surfaces and volumes, holographic structures, and diffractive elements. Early examples of EnMats have been used to design and build multifunctional elements and to dynamically control light, seemingly going beyond standard “laws” of reflection and refraction. The EXTREME program will explore this optical design space and aims to understand the trade-offs, and harness the possibilities, afforded by EnMats.