Israeli Tech Steers Light in 74 Quadrillionths of a Second

Imagine controlling light faster than you can blink, faster than you can think, faster than anything you've ever experienced. Israeli scientist Dr. Lior Michaeli helped create technology that does exactly that, steering light beams in just 74 femtoseconds (74 quadrillionths of a second).

The breakthrough came from Tel Aviv University's Meta-Optomechanics Laboratory, where Michaeli heads research. Working with colleagues at the California Institute of Technology, the team published their findings in Nature Nanotechnology, one of science's most respected journals.

At the heart of this achievement sits something called a metasurface. Think of it as an ultra-thin sheet covered with tiny silicon structures smaller than the width of a light beam itself.

When researchers shine a laser pulse on these structures, something remarkable happens. The silicon temporarily changes how it interacts with light, allowing another light beam passing through to instantly change direction or shape without any moving parts.

In lab tests, the team steered light beams by up to 13 degrees in either direction. By changing the pattern of the illuminating pulse, they also reshaped beams into different light patterns, meaning one device can perform many different jobs depending on how you use it.

"For me, the most exciting aspect is seeing an idea that had been with us for years become an experimental reality," Michaeli explained. The effect they wanted to harness is naturally very weak, so they had to design the metasurface to amplify it enough not just to measure, but to actually control light.

The Ripple Effect

This discovery could transform how our digital world works. Right now, many systems that use light for communication have to convert optical signals into electrical signals for processing, then back into light again. That conversion slows everything down.

Faster, programmable optical control could eventually let information processing happen directly with light. That means potentially faster computers, better cameras and sensors, more advanced communication networks, and imaging systems we haven't even imagined yet.

The device operates so fast that the measured switching time was close to the duration of the laser pulse itself. With shorter pulses, researchers believe even faster operation is possible.

What makes this especially promising is the simplicity. No moving mirrors, no lenses sliding around, no mechanical components wearing down. The metasurface returns to its original state once the pulse passes, ready for the next operation.

"This work points to a broader opportunity: using engineered structures to strengthen interactions between light and matter and turn them into tools for control, sensing, and information processing," Michaeli said. His lab at Tel Aviv University is already pursuing new research directions building on this foundation.

The breakthrough represents years of theoretical work finally becoming physical reality, proving that with the right design, we can amplify weak natural effects into powerful tools for technology.