The world’s oldest synthetic pigment, Egyptian blue, has been recreated by a team of researchers from Washington State University. This breakthrough, published in the journal NPJ Heritage Science, provides valuable insights for archaeologists and conservation scientists studying ancient Egyptian materials.

Led by John McCloy, director of WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, the research team collaborated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute to develop 12 recipes for the pigment. These recipes utilized a variety of raw materials and heating times, replicating temperatures available to ancient artists.

Egyptian blue was highly valued in ancient times due to its unique properties and versatility. It was used as a substitute for expensive minerals like turquoise or lapis lazuli and applied to wood, stone, and cartonnage – a papier-mâché-type material. Depending on its ingredients and processing time, the pigment’s color ranged from deep blue to dull gray or green.

The researchers’ work aimed to highlight how modern science can reveal hidden stories in ancient Egyptian objects. After the Egyptians, the pigment was used by Romans, but by the Renaissance period, the knowledge of how it was made had largely been forgotten.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in Egyptian blue due to its intriguing properties and potential new technological applications. The pigment emits light in the near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which people can’t see, making it suitable for fingerprinting and counterfeit-proof inks. It also shares similar chemistry with high-temperature superconductors.

To understand the makeup of Egyptian blue, the researchers created 12 different recipes using mixtures of silicon dioxide, copper, calcium, and sodium carbonate. They heated the material at around 1000 degrees Celsius for between one and 11 hours to replicate temperatures available to ancient artists. After cooling the samples at various rates, they studied the pigments using modern microscopy and analysis techniques that had never been used for this type of research.

The researchers found that Egyptian blue is highly heterogeneous, with different people making the pigment and transporting it to final uses elsewhere. Small differences in the process resulted in very different outcomes. In fact, to get the bluest color required only about 50% of the blue-colored components, regardless of the rest of the mixture’s composition.

The samples created are currently on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will become part of the museum’s new long-term gallery focused on ancient Egypt. This research serves as a prime example of how science can shed light on our human past, revealing hidden stories in ancient objects and materials.

Ultra-compact lenses have revolutionized the field of optics, enabling the creation of smaller, more efficient, and cost-effective optical devices. These innovative lenses, known as metalenses, are flat, ultra-thin, and lightweight, making them ideal for a wide range of applications, from camera technology to next-generation microscopy tools.

The key to this breakthrough lies in the use of special metasurfaces composed of nanostructures that modify the direction of light. By harnessing the power of nonlinear optics, researchers can now convert infrared light into visible radiation, opening up new possibilities for authentication, security features, and advanced imaging techniques.

Professor Rachel Grange at ETH Zurich has developed a novel process that enables the fabrication of lithium niobate metalenses using chemical synthesis and precision nanoengineering. This innovative technique allows for mass production, cost-effectiveness, and faster fabrication than other methods, making it an exciting development in the field of optics.

The potential applications of ultra-compact lenses are vast, from counterfeit-proof banknotes to advanced microscopy tools that can reveal new details about materials and structures. The use of simple camera detectors to convert infrared light into visible radiation could revolutionize sensing technologies, while reducing equipment needs for deep-UV light patterning in electronics fabrication.

As researchers continue to explore the possibilities offered by ultra-compact lenses, it’s clear that we’ve only scratched the surface of what this technology can achieve. With its potential to transform industries and improve our understanding of the world around us, ultra-compact lenses are an exciting development that promises to unlock new possibilities for light.

The field of materials science has taken a significant leap forward with the creation of designer hybrid 2D materials. A team of researchers from Rice University has successfully synthesized glaphene, a genuine 2D hybrid material by chemically integrating graphene and silica glass into a single compound. This breakthrough discovery opens up new avenues for developing custom-built materials for next-generation electronics, photonics, and quantum devices.

The team employed a two-step, single-reaction method to grow glaphene using a liquid chemical precursor containing both silicon and carbon. By adjusting oxygen levels during heating, they first grew graphene and then shifted conditions to favor the formation of a silica layer. This novel approach allowed them to create a true hybrid material with new electronic and structural properties.

One of the key findings was that the layers in glaphene do not simply rest on each other; instead, electrons move and form new interactions and vibration states, giving rise to properties neither material has on its own. This unique bonding between the graphene and silica layers changes the material’s structure and behavior, turning a metal and an insulator into a new type of semiconductor.

The researchers used various techniques, including Raman spectroscopy and quantum simulations, to verify the experimental results and gain insights into the atomic-level interactions within glaphene. The findings suggest that this hybrid bonding allows electrons to flow between the layers, creating entirely new behaviors.

This research has significant implications for the development of next-generation materials with tailored properties. By combining fundamentally different 2D materials, researchers can create custom-built materials from scratch, enabling breakthroughs in various fields such as electronics, photonics, and quantum computing.

The team’s work reflects a guiding principle that encourages exploring ideas that others may hesitate to mix. This research demonstrates the power of collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches in driving innovation forward. The findings have been supported by various funding organizations and institutions, highlighting the importance of public-private partnerships in advancing scientific knowledge.

In conclusion, the discovery of glaphene represents a major breakthrough in materials science, offering new possibilities for creating designer hybrid 2D materials with tailored properties. This research has significant implications for various fields, from electronics to quantum computing, and underscores the importance of collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches in driving innovation forward.