UA Materials Science Engineers Lead Global Phononics Conference
Experts from around the world gather in Tucson to take sound-based research up a notch.
The 5th International Conference on Phononic Crystals/Metamaterials, Phonon Transport & Topological Phononics will be held on the University of Arizona campus June 3-7, 2019. (Photo: FJ Gaylor)
Phononics 2019, one of the premiere international conferences in the field of phononics and acoustic metamaterials, is taking place on the University of Arizona campus June 3-7. Phononics, a rapidly growing field that first emerged in the late 1980s, is the study of phonons, a type of particle that carries sound and heat.
“The conference brings together pretty much the entire world’s community working in research on this topic,” said conference chair Pierre Deymier, who is also head of UA Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “We have a very strong research group in the field of phononics and acoustic metamaterials here in Tucson, and the UA is the leader of this conference and a leader in the field.”
Because phononics involves manipulating sound waves, it has applications ranging from telecommunications to information processing to environmental science. Sound is in your cellphone. It’s used for underwater sensing and imaging. Phonons could even enable high-speed computing.