Researchers at UNSW Sydney have developed a nanoscale device that converts low-energy infrared and red light into higher-energy visible light, a breakthrough that could eventually improve solar panels, sensing technologies, and advanced manufacturing systems.

Published in Nature Photonics, the research addresses a longstanding problem in photonics: how to stop energy from being lost before it can be used.

That mechanism allowed the device to achieve photon conversion efficiencies of 8.2%, among the strongest reported for this type of architecture.