Belgian researchers build the first circuit with stretchable
optical interconnections
For futuristic applications like wearable body sensors and
robotic skin, researchers need to ferry information along flexible routes.
Electronics that bend and stretch have become possible in recent years, but
similar work in the field of optics – communicating with light instead of
electrons – has lagged behind. Particularly difficult to engineer have been
optics that stretch, lengthening when someone wearing body sensors bends to tie
their shoe, or when a robotic arm twists through a full range of motion.