In a process comparable to squeezing an elephant through a
pinhole, researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology have
designed a way to engineer atoms capable of funneling light through ultra-small
channels.
Their research is the latest in a series of recent findings
related to how light and matter interact at the atomic scale, and it is the
first to demonstrate that the material – a specially designed “meta-atom” of
gold and silicon oxide – can transmit light through a wide bandwidth and at a
speed approaching infinity. The meta-atoms’ broadband capability could lead to
advances in optical devices, which currently rely on a single frequency to
transmit light, the researchers say.