Augmented reality (AR) glasses, lenses thinner than a human hair, and holograms floating above your fingertips may sound like technologies from science fiction. At the heart of these emerging technologies, however, lies a nanoscale optical device known as a “metasurface.”

Made of nanostructures smaller than the wavelength of light, metasurfaces can precisely control the direction, color and other properties of light. Despite their remarkable capabilities, their complex structures have long posed a major challenge to researchers.

A research team led by Professor Junsuk Rho and Dr. Seokwoo Kim of POSTECH discovered hidden repeating patterns within seemingly disordered nanostructures, opening a new route toward faster and more accurate analysis and design of metasurfaces. The study was published in Nature Communications.