Dr Ian Hooper

I am an experimental physicist specialising in metamaterials and, more generally, wave-matter interactions. I first joined the University of Exeter as an undergraduate in 1995, before continuing on as a PhD student studying surface plasmons on diffraction gratings. Subsequent post-doctoral positions have taken me from working in the optical region of the spectrum all the way through to mm waves, and has seen me work on projects focused on bio-sensors, microscopy, anti-counterfeiting features, antennas, RFID, and liquid crystal devices. Though many of these projects were application and device focused, I have also maintained my research into the fundamental physics of wave-matter interactions. More recently I was the Technical Director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Metamaterials, before returning to full-time research as part of an EPSRC Prosperity Partnership between the University and QinetiQ Ltd. (http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/team-a/). Currently I am employed on an EPSRC Centre-to-Centre collaboration with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Clarkson University, and the City University of New York, developing reconfigurable spatial modulators for GHz-THz frequency electromagnetic radiation (https://emps.exeter.ac.uk/metamaterial-cmri/workwithus/a-meta/).

Positions and Employment

• 1998 - 2002, Post Graduate Researcher, University of Exeter - Surface Plasmons on Diffraction Gratings
• 2002 - 2004, Research Fellow, University of Exeter - Pixelated, Dynamic Surface Plasmon Sensor
• 2004 - 2005, Teaching Fellow, University of Exeter - Optical Nano-structures in Nature
• 2005 - 2008, Research Fellow, University of Exeter - 2D Surface Plasmon Resonance Imagin for Bio-chemical Sensing
• 2008 - 2009, Research Fellow, University of Exeter - Structured-light Microscopy
• 2009 - 2011, Research Fellow, University of Exeter - Knowledge Transfer Account with QinetiQ Ltd. (Anti-counterfeiting Features and RFID)
• 2011 - 2014, Research Fellow, University of Exeter - QUEST: The Quest for Ultimate in Electromagnetics via Spatial Transformations (RF and Microwave Metamaterials)
• 2014 - 2018, Technical Director XM², University of Exeter - Technical director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Metamaterials (XM² - http://emps.exeter.ac.uk/metamaterials/)
• 2018 - 2022, Senior Research Fellow, University of Exeter - TEAM-A: The Tailored Electromagnetic and Acoustic Materials Accelerator. An EPSRC Prosperity Partnership with QinetiQ Ltd. (RF and Microwave Metamaterials)
• 2022 - Present, Senior Research Fellow, University of Exeter - A-Meta. An EPSRC Centre-to-Centre collaboration with multiple universities in the USA (Reconfigurable mm-wave devices)

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