SEOUL, May 04 (AJP) - Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed a holographic technology that uses the physical properties of light as an encryption key to reveal hidden information, the university said Monday. The system manipulates how light vibrates and twists to ensure that images are only visible when viewed under specific conditions.
The research team, led by ,Shin Jong-hwa, a professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology's (KAIST) Department of Materials Science and Engineering, succeeded in controlling two distinct characteristics of light simultaneously: its polarization and its orbital angular momentum. Polarization refers to the direction in which light vibrates, while orbital angular momentum describes how light twists in a spiral as it travels.
While these properties have been used individually in the past, combining them to act as independent security keys within a single device has been a significant technical challenge. To overcome this, the researchers created a bi-layer metasurface using two levels of nanoscale structures thinner than a human hair.
These structures are designed to react only when they encounter a specific "total angular momentum," which is the combination of light's vibration and twist. If the incoming light does not match the exact required key, the encoded holographic information remains hidden, providing a high level of security against counterfeiting.
The technology also allows for the creation of vectorial holograms, which control both the intensity and the direction of light at every point in an image. Because the twisting of light can theoretically take an infinite number of values, this method could also be used to increase the amount of data transmitted through optical fibers for high-speed telecommunications.
"This study demonstrates that the polarization and twisting of light can be combined as independent information keys," Professor Shin Jong-hwa said. "It will serve as a core platform for security systems that are difficult to replicate and for high-speed, high-capacity optical communication technologies."
The study, which included Jung Jun-gyo as the first author, was published online in the journal Advanced Materials on March 12, 2026.
(Reference Information)
Journal/Source: Advanced Materials
Title: Arbitrary Total Angular Momentum Vectorial Holography Using Bi-Layer Metasurfaces
Link/DOI: 10.1002/adma.202519106
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