In 2000, Sandia used a 416-nanometer cheesecloth-like crystal to bend infrared light with little loss. 26 years later, the approach still guides research into faster, cooler photonic chips

In 2000, researchers at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories demonstrated a tiny structure that could bend infrared light with very little loss. Made from gallium arsenide, the structure looked more like cheesecloth than an optical device. Its carefully arranged holes allowed selected wavelengths of light to travel through the material while blocking others.

The work, published in Nature and Optics Letters, focused on a two-dimensional photonic crystal, an artificial structure designed to conduct light.