(JNS) Two teams of scientists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology collaborated to conduct monumental research to discover an innovative new scientific field: Quantum Metamaterials. The findings are presented in a paper published by the prominent journal Science.

Previously, experiments with metamaterials was widely limited to manipulations using classical light. The researchers demonstrated for the first time that it is plausible to apply the field of quantum information and computing to metamaterials, allowing for multiple practical uses such as the development of unbreakable encryptions, in addition to fresh ways for quantum information systems stored on a chip. Metamaterials are artificially fabricated materials made up of many artificial nano-scale structures to respond to light in numerous ways. Metasurfaces are “the 2-D version of metamaterials: extremely thin surfaces made up of numerous sub-wavelength optical nano-antennas, each designed to serve a specific function upon the interaction with light,” according to a statement from the American Technion Society. “More specifically, the researchers have demonstrated the use of metamaterials to generate and manipulate entanglement, which is the most crucial feature of any quantum information scheme,” it added.

The joint study was conducted by Mordechai Segev, a distinguished professor in the Technion’s Physics Department and Solid State Institute, along with Tomer Stav and Dikla Oren; and Erez Hasman, a member of the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, accommodated by Arkady Faerman, Elhanan Maguid and Vladimir Kleiner.