Einstein problem shape reveals strange new physics

University of Tokyo scientists created nanostructures based on the aperiodic monotile 'Smith hat' on silicon nitride films and illuminated them with a laser. The diffraction patterns were chiral, resembling pinwheels, and changed under mirror reflection, unlike ordinary quasicrystals.

• Structures on silicon nitride made by electron-beam lithography
• Laser produced chiral diffraction patterns shaped like pinwheels
• Mirror reflection reversed the optical response
• Results published in Nature Communications