Project description
Engineering light could transform how materials look
The way objects appear to us, namely through colour, texture, gloss and clarity, is shaped by how they scatter light. While traditional materials have been engineered for appearance at length scales significantly larger than their wavelengths, their design at the nanoscale remains challenging. The ERC-funded UNSEEN project will explore how disordered nanostructures – metasurfaces – can create entirely new visual effects. Researchers will develop new nanophotonics tools to model and characterise the surfaces and uncover the link between nanoscale structures and appearance. They will also use advanced nanofabrication techniques that could lead to innovative applications in luxury goods, document security and display technologies.
Objective
The optics of disordered media with subwavelength high-contrast resonant inhomogeneities is a fascinating research topic emerging at the interface between the physics of waves in complex media and nanophotonics. UNSEEN explores and exploits unconventional wave-interference phenomena in disordered metasurfaces towards a new application: the creation of brand-new visual appearance.
Our perception of objects is completely determined by how they scatter light. Color is crucial, but other attributes, such as texture, gloss for reflective surfaces, clarity for transmissive ones, illumination directivity also largely influence appearance. Although this perception plays a key role in virtually all fine and applied arts, appearance engineering has been so far applied only to materials structured at length scales significantly larger than the wavelength; this is because the link between nanostructure morphologies and appearance is very complicated for subwavelength scale resonant inhomogeneities.
UNSEEN bridges, for the first time, the fertile environments of optical metasurfaces and visual appearance in an original and cross-disciplinary way. At the forefront of optical modelling and characterization, we will develop new tools in nanophotonics, which will merge nanoscale electromagnetism, mesoscale multiple scattering, and macroscale ray-tracing rendering. The tools will allow us to understand the complicated relation between morphology and appearance, to harness the manifold degrees of freedom offered by disordered metasurfaces and to discover clues to design novel appearance. We will then use available state-of-the-art nanofabrication and develop new characterization setups to produce and observe metasurfaces with novel appearances, and further study their most promising applications: luxury goods, document security, and head-up display.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2022-ADG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
75794 PARIS
France
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.