Einstein tile photonic crystal scatters light asymmetrically by spin

Scientists built a photonic crystal using the 13-sided “einstein” hat tile and found it scatters light asymmetrically depending on the light’s spin, a first for such structures. Published July 29 in Nature Communications, researchers etched nanoscale holes in the hat pattern onto a silicon nitride chip. Laser tests produced a pinwheel scattering pattern confirming quasicrystal order; the tile’s chirality caused different responses to clockwise versus counterclockwise polarized light. The hat tile, discovered in 2023, was the first single shape to tile a surface without repeating, solving the “einstein problem.” Researcher Yuto Moritake plans to apply the pattern to optical communications and computing.