Subhechcha Ganguly 
Scientists from Bengaluru have found a brand-new substance that, when used for optical communication devices and solar and thermal energy harvesting, emits, detects, and modulates infrared light with great efficiency. Electricity generation, telecommunication, defence and security technology, sensors, and healthcare services all employ electromagnetic waves as a sustainable energy source. Scientists utilise specialised materials and high-tech techniques to accurately manage these waves, which have diameters thousands of times thinner than a human hair. However, not all light wavelengths (or electromagnetic waves) can be effectively used; in particular, infrared light is challenging to detect and control.Intelligent and cutting-edge materials are needed for infrared light applications in order to provide excitation, modulation, and detection in specified spectral ranges with high efficiency.Few materials now on the market, albeit with extremely low efficiency, can behave as hosts for light-matter interactions in the infrared spectral region. Such materials’ operating spectral range does not include the short-wavelength infrared spectrum, which is significant for industry.The group, under the direction of KC Maurya, harnessed a phenomenon known as “polariton excitations,” which happens in specially designed materials when light combines with other occurrences. The collaboration included scientists from the University of Sydney, the Indian Institute of Science, the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).
By Subhechcha Ganguly
