Optics Seminar
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2026-05-14 (Thursday)
room 0.06, Pasteura 5 at 10:15 
Ulf Leonhardt (Weizmann Institute of Science & Technical University Vienna)Geometry, light and a wee bit of magic
When light enters an optical material, the material acts as if it changes the geometry of space - distances get longer or shorter, depending on the refractive index. This is the basis of optical illusions, and also for many fascinating connections between optical media and the physics of space and time: general relativity. It gives a recipe for making things invisible in cloaking, but also for shedding light on the physics of black holes and perhaps for explaining the enigma of dark energy.