By twisting fibre-optic strands into helical shapes, researchers at Chiral Photonics Inc have created unique structures that can precisely filter, polarize or scatter light. Compatible with standard fibre-optic lines, these structures may replace bulky components in sensors, gyroscopes & other devices. While researchers are still probing the unusual properties of the new fibre, tests show the strands impart a chiral, or "handed," character to light by polarizing photons according to certain physical properties. In conventional optical fibres, light is transmitted from one end to the other through a round core housed within a concentric outer cladding. But, because a circular core does not develop handedness when twisted, the research team wound rectangular-core fibres to create a double helix & discovered that some photons left the core & entered the cladding.
