Imagine a world where technology could reveal hidden secrets just like magic. Scientists have made a breakthrough in creating artificial optical structures called metasurfaces that can control the way they interact with polarized light. This innovation has potential applications in data encryption, biosensing, and quantum technologies.

The team from the Bionanophotonic Systems Laboratory at EPFL’s School of Engineering collaborated with researchers in Australia to create a “chiral design toolkit” that is elegantly simple yet powerful. By varying the orientation of tiny elements called meta-atoms within a 2D lattice, scientists can control the resulting metasurface’s interaction with polarized light.

The innovation was showcased by encoding two different images on a metasurface optimized for the invisible mid-infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first image of an Australian cockatoo was encoded in the size of the meta-atoms, which represented pixels, and could be decoded with unpolarized light. The second image of the Swiss Matterhorn was encoded using the orientation of the meta-atoms, so that when exposed to circularly polarized light, the metasurface revealed a picture of the iconic mountain.

“This experiment showcased our technique’s ability to produce a dual layer ‘watermark’ invisible to the human eye, paving the way for advanced anticounterfeiting, camouflage and security applications,” says Ivan Sinev, researcher at the Bionanophotonics Systems Lab.

Beyond encryption, the team’s approach has potential applications in quantum technologies, where polarized light is used to perform computations. The ability to map chiral responses across large surfaces could also streamline biosensing.

“We can use chiral metastructures like ours to sense, for example, drug composition or purity from small-volume samples. Nature is chiral, and the ability to distinguish between left- and right-handed molecules is essential, as it could make the difference between a medicine and a toxin,” says Felix Richter, researcher at the Bionanophotonic Systems Lab.

This breakthrough has opened doors to new possibilities in data encryption, biosensing, and quantum technologies. The future of technology is indeed bright, and twisted light just got a whole lot more interesting.

The article you provided showcases a groundbreaking achievement in materials discovery research. A team of scientists has developed an AI-powered laboratory that can collect at least 10 times more data than previous techniques, drastically expediting the process while slashing costs and environmental impact. This self-driving laboratory combines machine learning and automation with chemical and materials sciences to discover materials more quickly.

The innovation lies in the implementation of dynamic flow experiments, where chemical mixtures are continuously varied through the system and monitored in real-time. This approach generates a vast amount of high-quality data, which is then used by the machine-learning algorithm to make smarter, faster decisions, honing in on optimal materials and processes.

The results are staggering: the self-driving lab can identify the best material candidates on its very first try after training, reducing the number of experiments needed and dramatically cutting down on chemical use and waste. This breakthrough has far-reaching implications for sustainable research practices and society’s toughest challenges.

The article highlights the work of Milad Abolhasani, corresponding author of the paper, who emphasizes that this achievement is not just about speed but also about responsible research practices. The future of materials discovery, he says, is not just about how fast we can go, but also about how responsibly we get there.

The paper, “Flow-Driven Data Intensification to Accelerate Autonomous Materials Discovery,” was published in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering and showcases a collaborative effort from multiple researchers and institutions. The work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the University of North Carolina Research Opportunities Initiative program.

The rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has put an immense strain on our energy resources. In response, researchers are racing to find innovative solutions that can make AI more efficient and sustainable. A groundbreaking discovery in spin wave technology could be the game-changer we’ve been waiting for. A team from the Universities of Münster and Heidelberg, led by physicist Prof. Rudolf Bratschitsch, has successfully developed a novel way to produce waveguides that enable spin waves to travel farther than ever before.

The scientists have created the largest spin waveguide network in history, with 198 nodes connected by high-quality waveguides. This achievement is made possible by using yttrium iron garnet (YIG), a material known for its low attenuation properties. The team employed a precise technique involving a silicon ion beam to inscribe individual spin-wave waveguides into a thin film of YIG, resulting in complex structures that are both flexible and reproducible.

One of the key advantages of this breakthrough is the ability to control the properties of the spin wave transmitted through the waveguide. Researchers were able to accurately alter the wavelength and reflection of the spin wave at specific interfaces, paving the way for more efficient AI processing. This innovation has the potential to revolutionize the field of AI by making it 10 times more efficient.

The study was published in Nature Materials, a prestigious scientific journal. The project received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 1459 “Intelligent Matter.” This groundbreaking discovery is poised to take AI to new heights and make our energy resources go further than ever before.