A METHOD for mass-assembling semiconductors into fusilli pasta shapes could one day lead to moving holograms projected right from your smartphone.
To create a hologram, information about an object is recorded into a light-sensitive material. A moving hologram requires the light to twist and change so it acts like a flip book.
Nicholas Kotov at the University of Michigan and his colleagues made twisted semiconductors by coating them with amino acids, which are responsible for proteins鈥� twists. The resulting compound acts as a waveguide: light passing through it naturally follows the curves in the material (Science Advances, ).
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The goal is to add the structures into technology like smartphones. Kotov says this is the first step. 鈥淚t is something that we envisioned, but it鈥檚 not yet a reality,鈥� he says.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淎 twist could bring moving holograms鈥�