Janus meta-imager enables asymmetric image transmission and transformation in opposite directions
Diffractive neural networks combined with metasurfaces create optical Janus imaging device for encryption and storage
2026-02-04
(Press-News.org)
A team of researchers from Peking University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new optical device capable of asymmetrically transmitting and transforming images in two opposite directions. Dubbed the “Janus meta-imager,” the device is based on diffractive deep neural networks (D²NNs) and metasurfaces, and operates without external power or nonlinear materials.
Unlike conventional asymmetric imaging systems that rely on active components or limited unidirectional functions, the Janus meta-imager can perform different imaging tasks in forward and backward directions. For example, in simulations, input letters are directly transmitted forward, while simultaneously being transformed into clothing icons backward.
The device consists of cascaded metasurface layers optimized via deep learning algorithms. Experiments in the near-infrared band (800 nm) validated its asymmetric imaging function with high correlation to target outputs. The imager operates at about 10 kHz frame rates, consumes minimal energy, and measures only 0.5 × 0.5 mm².
Potential applications include all-optical encryption, where the device can switch between plaintext transmission and ciphertext generation depending on the direction of light, and high-density optical data storage with direction-multiplexed information.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2026-02-04
Early detection and accurate typing of cancer are critical for improving patient survival rates. While traditional pathology remains the gold standard, it often requires complex sample processing and chemical staining. In a study published in the journal PhotoniX, researchers from the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves at Southeast University and the Zhongda Hospital of Southeast University have unveiled a new "label-free" screening method. They have developed a sub-terahertz biosensor that leverages the physical ...
2026-02-04
Antioxidants have been marketed as miracle supplements, touted for preventing chronic diseases and cancers; treating COPD and dementia; and slowing aging.
While antioxidant therapies are widely used to treat male infertility, a new study from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) found that regularly consuming high doses of antioxidants negatively influences sperm DNA and may lead to offspring born with differences in craniofacial development.
In a study, published in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, a team of researchers led by Dr. ...
2026-02-04
Results from the largest-ever clinical trial of its kind found administering a synthetic protein can reduce bleeding and improve outcomes for certain patients at the highest risk of continued bleeding following a type of stroke called an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
The University of Cincinnati’s Joseph Broderick, MD, presented results from the FASTEST trial at the International Stroke Conference on Feb. 4. Findings were additionally published in The Lancet, with Broderick serving as corresponding author.
An ICH occurs when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain and causes ...
2026-02-04
Quantum-enhanced measurement schemes promise sensitivities beyond the shot noise limit, but their practical implementation in atomic systems has long been hindered by optical loss and decoherence. In particular, squeezed states of light—one of the most accessible quantum resources—are extremely fragile when interacting with resonant atomic media, where absorption and scattering rapidly degrade their noise suppression advantage.
In this work, researchers report the first realization of a Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system operating in the quantum regime, where optical readout noise is reduced below the shot noise limit using a squeezed ...
2026-02-04
Broadband achromatic wavefront control, a cornerstone of next-generation photonic systems that supports full-color imaging, multi-spectral sensing, has seen important progress reported in PhotoniX by the research group led by Professor Yijun Feng and Professor Ke Chen from Nanjing University. They proposed a hybrid-phase cooperative dispersion-engineering strategy that combines Aharonov–Anandan (AA) and Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) geometric phases in a single-layer metasurface to unlock independent, dual-spin achromatic wavefront control.
Dispersion ...
2026-02-04
Accurate gas detection is a cornerstone of energy security, environmental monitoring, and medical diagnosis. However, developing a miniaturized device that achieves both high selectivity (distinguishing specific gases) and high sensitivity (detecting trace amounts) has long presented a significant challenge. Traditional spectroscopic methods often struggle to identify complex gas mixtures without relying on bulky equipment or broad spectral bandwidths.
Research group at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) has achieved a major breakthrough in this field. Published in the journal PhotoniX, their study introduces ...
2026-02-04
Bar Harbor, Maine —
As people age, muscles naturally lose mass and strength, a condition known as sarcopenia. The decline can make everyday activities harder and increases the risk of falls, disability and early death.
At the moment, the best defense is regular exercise throughout our lives, as effective treatments to slow or prevent muscle atrophy are limited. Progress has been slowed in part because in most vertebrates, aging unfolds over many years, making it difficult for biomedical researchers to study quickly in the laboratory.
Now, MDI Biological Laboratory Associate Professor Romain Madelaine, ...
2026-02-04
A key molecular mechanism drives the growth of liver cell cancer while simultaneously suppressing the body's immune response to the tumor. This has now been published in the journal Nature by a team led by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University Hospital of Tübingen, and the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla, California. However, the results also show that this very mechanism could help identify patients who respond particularly well to immunotherapy in the future, thus opening up new therapeutic approaches.
Liver cell cancer is particularly difficult to treat ...
2026-02-04
MADISON — Parts of the ancient Earth may have formed continents and recycled crust through subduction far earlier than previously thought.
New research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has uncovered chemical signatures in zircons, the planet’s oldest minerals, that are consistent with subduction and extensive continental crust during the Hadean Eon, more than 4 billion years ago. The findings challenge models that have long considered Earth's earliest times as dominated by a rigid, unmoving ...
2026-02-04
Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Institute of Neurophysiology at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen in Germany have deciphered the molecular signature of so-called sleeping nociceptors—a type of pain-sensing nerve cell that normally remains quiet and does not respond to touch or pressure, but can become overactive and drive chronic pain. The findings will be published on Wednedsay, February 4 in the renowned scientific journal Cell.
Approximately ten percent of the population lives with neuropathic (nerve-related) pain, which is frequently associated with abnormal activity of sleeping nociceptors. ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Janus meta-imager enables asymmetric image transmission and transformation in opposite directions
Diffractive neural networks combined with metasurfaces create optical Janus imaging device for encryption and storage
