New research shows that the magnetic part of light actively shapes how light interacts with matter, challenging a 180-year-old belief.
The team demonstrated that this magnetic component significantly contributes to the Faraday Effect, even accounting for up to 70% of the rotation in the infrared range. By proving that light can magnetically torque materials, the findings open unexpected pathways for advanced optical and magnetic technologies.
Revealing Light’s Hidden Magnetic Power
This study investigates CaCu3−xSrxTi4O12 (CCSTO) systems synthesized using the solid-state method, with x compositions of 0.00, 0.15, and 3.00. The samples were modified using 6 wt% graphene oxide (GO) and reduced GO (rGO) prepared via Hummer’s method to evaluate their performance as electrodes in supercapacitors. The results indicate that the addition of 6wt% rGO to CCTO (CCTO-6rGO) led to an improvement in specific capacitance, reaching 237.76 mF·g−1 at a scan rate of 10 mV/s, compared to 29.86 mF·g−1 for pure CCTO and only 7.83 mF·g−1 for CCTO-6GO, suggesting that rGO enhances charge storage. For the CCTO15Sr samples, CCTO15Sr-6rGO exhibited the highest specific capacitance, with 321.63 mF·g−1 at 10 mV/s, surpassing both pure CCTO15Sr (80.19 mF·g−1) and CCTO15Sr-6GO (25.73 mF·g−1). These results stem from oxygen and metal vacancies, which aid charge accumulation and ion diffusion.
Some 200 light years from Earth, the core of a dead star is circling a larger star in a macabre cosmic dance. The dead star is a type of white dwarf that exerts a powerful magnetic field as it pulls material from the larger star into a swirling, accreting disk. The spiraling pair is what’s known as an “intermediate polar” — a type of star system that gives off a complex pattern of intense radiation, including X-rays, as gas from the larger star falls onto the other one.
Now, MIT astronomers have used an X-ray telescope in space to identify key features in the system’s innermost region — an extremely energetic environment that has been inaccessible to most telescopes until now. In an open-access study published in the Astrophysical Journal, the team reports using NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) to observe the intermediate polar, known as EX Hydrae.
The team found a surprisingly high degree of X-ray polarization, which describes the direction of an X-ray wave’s electric field, as well as an unexpected direction of polarization in the X-rays coming from EX Hydrae. From these measurements, the researchers traced the X-rays back to their source in the system’s innermost region, close to the surface of the white dwarf.
Two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) ferromagnets are thin and magnetic materials in which molecules or layers are held together by weak attractive forces known as vdW forces. These materials have proved to be promising for the development of spintronic devices, systems that operate leveraging the spin (i.e., intrinsic angular momentum) of electrons, as opposed to electric charge.
A crucial parameter in the context of magnetization is the so-called Gilbert damping coefficient, which indicates how quickly a material’s magnetization loses energy and returns to a state of equilibrium after being disturbed. A lower damping coefficient is more favorable for the development of spintronics, as it means that less energy is lost once a material’s magnetization is set into motion.
Researchers at Beijing Normal University, Shanghai University and Fudan University carried out a study aimed at better understanding the underpinnings of low Gilbert damping in 2D vdW ferromagnets.
A German-French team of physicists from TU Dortmund University, University of Würzburg, and Le Mans Université has succeeded in launching shear hypersound pulses with exceptionally large amplitudes in metal halide perovskites using pulsed optical excitation.
This discovery is published in the journal Science Advances.
Whereas the material has been of high interest for photovoltaics so far, the new results turn it into a candidate to be used for optically driven devices capable of generating and detecting sound waves at sub-terahertz frequencies, with potential applications across electronic, photonic, magnetic, and biomedical devices.
Gyromorphs merge order and disorder to deliver unprecedented light-blocking power for next-generation photonic computers. Researchers engineered “gyromorphs,” a new type of metamaterial that combines liquid-like randomness with large-scale structural patterns to block light from every direction. This innovation solves longstanding limitations in quasicrystal-based designs and could accelerate advances in photonic computing.
Researchers are exploring a new generation of computers that operate using light, or photons, instead of electrical currents. Systems that rely on light to store and process information could one day run far more efficiently and complete calculations much faster than conventional machines.
Light-driven computing is still at an early stage, and one of the main technical obstacles involves controlling tiny streams of light traveling through a chip. Rerouting these microscopic signals without weakening them requires carefully engineered materials. To keep signals strong, the hardware must include a lightweight substance that prevents stray light from entering from any direction. This type of material is known as an “isotropic bandgap material.”
The poplar (Populus alba) has a unique survival strategy: when exposed to hot and dry conditions, it curls its leaves to expose the ventral surface, reflecting sunlight, and at night, the moisture condensed on the leaf surface releases latent heat to prevent frost damage. Plants have evolved such intricate mechanisms in response to dynamic environmental fluctuations in diurnal and seasonal temperature cycles, light intensity, and humidity, but there have been few instances of realizing such a sophisticated thermal management system with artificial materials.
Now, a KAIST research team has developed an artificial material that mimics the thermal management strategy of the poplar leaf, significantly increasing the applicability of power-free, self-regulating thermal management technology in applications such as building facades, roofs, and temporary shelters. The paper is published in the journal Advanced Materials.
The research team led by Professor Young Min Song of the School of Electrical Engineering, in collaboration with Professor Dae-Hyeong Kim’s team at Seoul National University, has developed a flexible hydrogel-based “Latent-Radiative Thermostat (LRT)” that mimics the natural heat regulation strategy of the poplar leaf.
At the award ceremony held on Monday, November 10, 2025, at the Kyoto International Conference Center, Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado graced the occasion, joined by ambassadors, consuls general, and numerous distinguished guests from Japan and abroad to celebrate the laureates’ achievements. Each laureate was presented with a diploma, the Kyoto Prize medal, and a monetary award of 100 million yen. https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/shun-ichi_amari/
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor Shun’ichi Amari on receiving the Kyoto Prize. Below is a list of his works — 30 references published in journals including a research survey article, along with selected book chapters — published by Springer Nature over the past 50 years. These materials are available for free viewing and download until December 14, 2025.