In a major step toward next-generation electronics, researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have discovered a way to manipulate the direction of charge flow in ultrathin metallic films at room temperature using light. This discovery opens the door to more energy-efficient optical sensors, detectors, and quantum information devices.

The research is published in Science Advances.

The team showed that ultra-thin layers of ruthenium dioxide (RuO₂), grown on titanium dioxide (TiO₂), can be made to behave differently depending on direction—both in how they respond to light and how electricity moves through them.