By: |Scientists Create a New Kind of Optical FiberResearchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light have developed an innovative optical fiber that dramatically strengthens the interaction between light and sound. By freezing the liquid inside a specially designed glass capillary to -196°C using liquid nitrogen, the team created a unique “frozen-core” optical fiber that performs far better than conventional glass fibers. Unlike ordinary optical fibers, which mainly guide light, the new frozen fiber can guide both light and high-frequency sound waves at the same time. Expanding the Future of PhotonicsThe frozen-core fiber provides researchers with an entirely new platform for manipulating light and sound. As scientists continue refining the design, frozen-core fibers could play an important role in future communication systems, advanced sensors, quantum technologies, and next-generation computing hardware.