When light or sound bounces around inside an oddly shaped room, its reflections can quickly become difficult to predict. But new research led by scientists at the Advanced Science Research Center at the CUNY Graduate Center (CUNY ASRC) shows that waves can behave very differently when they travel through a special class of materials.

The study, published in Nature Physics, demonstrates that waves inside an irregularly shaped cavity made from hyperbolic materials (named after the mathematical curve called a hyperbola because of the distinctive shape they force light waves to take) can organize into stable, repeating paths rather than scattering chaotically.

The researchers call these structures “hyperbolic wave attractors,” and their findings could eventually help scientists and engineers design new ways to control light, radio waves and sound in complex environments.