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Show 20 Kati Furse college of engineering It has been shown that metamaterials (a man-made material with a negative refractive index) improve coupling in a two-coil system. Metamaterials are a fairly new phenomenon. Little is known about the ma-terials at lower frequencies required by biomedical devices. This research investigated the use of metama-terials to improve an already-developed retinal implant system that restores sight to patients blinded by degenerative eye disorders. An increase in coupling means higher efficiency of the system, and thus more signals are transmitted to the coil on the implanted device and the battery powering the signal is drained less, making the implant more accurate with a longer battery life. The metamaterial is placed directly out-side the head in order to set it between the two coils, so it is important that the metamaterial be a small enough that the patient will not be bothered by it. This research investigates not only the behavior of the metamaterial but miniaturizing the material for biomedical applications. The metamaterial is miniaturized by adding length, investigating different kinds of metamaterials, adding capacitance, and by different dimensions of metamaterial cells. This research has found that increasing the outer lengths of the metamaterial produces minimal effects for miniaturiz-ing the material, but that a spiral resonator with added capacitances makes a critical difference in the size of metamaterial. Multi-dimensional simulations haven't been completed yet, but it is expected that the material will be miniaturized even more with a 2-dimensional, rather than 1-dimensional, material. Later in the project the material will be fabricated and tested in a two-coil system for accuracy of experimental results versus simulated results and to verify that the metamaterial is working properly. Researching metamaterials for bioapplications not only investigates a fairly unknown material, but also may improve already cutting edge technology for restoring sight to the blind. METAMATERIAL MINIATURIZATION FOR BIOMEDICAL DEVICES Katie Furse (Gianluca Lazzi, Ajit Rajagopalan) Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS Gianluca Lazzi Ajit Rajagopalan |
