Light that only travels one way: a fibre-optic breakthrough for sturdier, more secure signals

Army Research Laboratory and University of Maryland researchers have sculpted 21 microscopic bumps onto a hair-thin glass fibre, creating a one-way path that steers light around flaws instead of letting it scatter. Published in Nature Communications, it is the first demonstration of this protected light-routing approach — called topological photonics — on a fibre system of this kind. The team says it could lead to more resilient communications, navigation sensors that do not rely on GPS, and new ways to simulate advanced materials.