Liquid-crystal hybrid ‘gyromorph’ could advance light-based computing

Researchers at New York University have developed a novel hybrid material called "gyromorphs" that could significantly advance light-based computing. Light-driven computers, which use photons instead of electrons, promise faster processing speeds and lower energy consumption, but have been hindered by the challenge of efficiently guiding light signals on chips without loss. This requires isotropic bandgap materials that block stray light uniformly from all directions. Gyromorphs uniquely combine liquid-like disorder with crystal-like patterning, outperforming existing materials—including quasicrystals, which either fully block light from some directions or only partially block it from all directions. The NYU team created gyromorphs through engineered metamaterials with a new form of "correlated disorder," a state between randomness and order, akin to the spatial distribution of trees in a forest. This design approach allowed them to amplify a structural signature common to all isotropic bandgap materials, resulting in a class of materials that exhibit liquid-like randomness alongside regular long-range patterns. These