Thirteen-faced 'einstein' tile yields a nonrepeating crystal that steers light in new ways
Researchers at the University of Tokyo built a photonic crystal from a 13‑sided aperiodic tile nicknamed the 'einstein' (the Smith hat) by etching nanoscale holes in silicon nitride. The pattern never repeats, creating a nontraditional crystal that diffracts light into a swirling pinwheel pattern and, due to the tile’s lack of mirror symmetry, shows circular-polarization dependent scattering (chirality). This discovery could enable new ways to control light inside photonic chips for future optical communication and computing applications.
